After Hours at the Polestar Club
This was such an enjoyable and exciting project to put togther! We hope it will tour again in the future – for now, though, you can check out some great images and sounds online
http://www.polestar.honeysuckledirection.org
Performance storytelling with a magnetic twist
Tour dates Spring/Summer 2013
Preview April 5th ( by invitation)
Public premiere June 12th Aberystwyth Arts Centre
August 15th 8pm CHAPTER Cardiff
Green Man Festival, Einstein’s garden August 17th, 18th.
There’s a place where the physics of the auroral current meets the twists and turns of memory. It’s called the Polestar Club. Drop in and join us for the strange tale of a girl in space, life in the magnetosphere and the attraction of northbound travel.
Appearing at the Polestar Club are cosmic storyteller Christine Watkins, universe-mapping artist Maria Hayes and vocal violinist extraordinaire Sianed Jones.
Background notes:
The idea for this show began to coalesce during a research trip to the Swedish and Finnish Arctic undertaken in February 2010 by Maria Hayes and Christine Watkins. Under investigation was the idea of North, the Aurora Borealis and stories about the creation of the universe. The itinerary included the Aurora Sky Station in Abisko, the Swedish Institute for Space Physics in Kiruna, the Museum of the Arctic (Arkitkkum) , Rovaniemi Arts Museum and Jokkmokk Museum. Throughout the journey we had the opportunity to meet and talk to a range of scientists, artists and curators…
After Hours at the Polestar Club is a collaboration between Honeysuckle Direction and Centre for Performance Research Ltd.
We acknowledge the generous support of the Science and Technology Facilities Council.
International Artist Residency, Åland Archipelago
During October and November 2011 Christine was Artist in Residence on Kökar, the outermost part of the Åland Archipelago which lies between Sweden and Finland at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia. There was a Work-in-progress demonstration of material created during the residency
WORDS TO LEARN AND USE/ORD ATT LÄRA OCH ANVÄNDA
in Kökar on 24th November 7pm and Mariehamn 29th November 7pm.
If you’d like to look back on the daily ups and downs of residency life, visit the blog on www.christinewatkins.tumblr.com
Following on from the residency, Christine returned to Åland in August 2012 to take part in the Voices for Peace Festival hosted by the Åland Peace Institute. During the Festival, participants from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Sweden and Åland collaborated on a further development of the WORDS TO LEARN AND USE performance, further exploring the use of multiple layers of language and memory.
The Tide Tables
THE TIDE TABLES – a vibrant new work which cast its gaze across the landscape of midlife. Following a successful 2010 premiere the show toured the UK in May/June 2011 with its special fusion of poetry, biology, vocal harmony and wry humour…
The tour was a co-production with The Centre for Performance Research.
To see a short video extract from the pilot and audience comments click here…
You can watch video extracts of 2011 tour rehearsals here.
Research journey: NORTH
In February 2010 Christine accompanied artist Maria Hayes on a research trip to the Swedish and Finnish Arctic. Under investigation was the idea of North, the Aurora Borealis and stories about the creation of the universe. The itinerary included the Aurora Sky Station in Abisko, the Swedish Institute for Space Physics in Kiruna, the Museum of the Arctic (Arkitkkum) , Rovaniemi Arts Museum, Jokkmokk Museum and K&C Dance Company in Helsinki. Throughout the journey we had the opportunity to meet and talk to a range of scientists, artists and curators and gained valuable inspiration for a new work After Hours at the Polestar Club.
Christine continued this trip by following a lifelong line of enquiry and travelling on alone to the semi-autonomous Aaland Archipelago at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia. In the frozen waters the seeds for a related piece of work on Journey and Memory were briefly visible. This led to a seven week Artist Residency in the Archipelago at the end of 2011, and informed a proposed performance research project, Juniper Ground.
How Not To Be Afraid Of The Dark
A new work for performance, commissioned by Ledbury Poetry Festival in celebration of International Year of Astronomy. Premiered to a full house at the Market Theatre Ledbury on 10th July 2009 and toured on in Autumn 2010. more details here…
Mosquito Night
Performance project exploring the work of poet-scientist Ronald Ross and humanity’s struggle to understand and combat malaria. Mosquito Night was performed at The Courtyard Centre for the Arts, Hereford in February 2008 and combined monologue by Christine Watkins, lecture by Dr Angela Priestman, choral song cycle composed by Mary Keith and floorscape installation by Emily Campbell. www.mosquitonight.nomadnet.eu