Workshops related to the seminar

CAN ARTS IN THE PUBLIC PLACE REINVENT THE CITY TODAY ?

Three sessions of workshops will be held on the three days leading up to the seminar. These workshops are aimed at students from Brest European Fine Arts School, from the Master in Performing arts management at the Université de Bretagne Occidentale, from the Institute of Geo-architecture and the Bachelor of street arts from the University of Winchester.
The workshops will take place in Brest city centre, place de la Liberté, on 17th, 18th and 19th March 2014, and will be led by three artists working in the public space, each of them specialised in their field : Stefan Shankland (visual artist), Maresa Von Stockert (choreographer), Charlie Windelschmidt (artistic director).

QUESTIONS RELATED TO A PLACE : PLACE DE LA LIBERTE SQUARE IN BREST

How can arts in the public place reinvent the city today ? What relationship do outdoor artists develop with the public place ? Through working within such space, how can they explore and/or suggest other urban possibilities ? This workshop is an opportunity to explore such questions and the realities of contemporary public space applied to a specific space : Place de la Liberté in Brest. This central square is a place through which local people walk or where they meet. Today, twenty years after the creation of this central square, Brest Council is launching a wide consultation on its future and its potential use. It is seen as too ‘functional’, and the aim is now to explore how to reveal it differently, which provides the arts in the public space an interesting time to experiment in Brest.

WHEN DIFFERENT ART FORMS MEET

These workshops will bring together students from various disciplines, as well as artists, also from various arts forms (visual arts, choreography, outdoor performing arts). They will be split into three groups (maximum of 20 people per group). Each group will be led by an artist and will present their ideas on the start of answer to the questions above on Friday 21st march 2pm at the seminar. Like the method used on the seminar, the idea is to compare different points of view and disciplines, or even to go beyond. Although the comparison between various art forms is a means to nurture ideas, the central focus here is the public space, not the art form.

ORGANISATION

• Sunday 16th March, 5pm : Meeting with the artists at Le Fourneau
• From Monday 17th to Wednesday 19th March : full workshop days (access to the space between 8am and 8pm)
• Friday 21st March, 2.30pm to 5pm : presentation of the work developed by the 3 groups as part of the seminar « Arts and public spaces » #2 - Arts in the city : a political meaning

VENUE

The workshops will be held in Place de la Liberté in Brest. An indoor venue will also be made available for each artist and their group :

• Maresa Von Stockert in Le Fourneau, National Centre for Street arts.
• Stefan Shankland in Brest European Fine Arts School
• Charlie Windelschmidt in the Cultural Services building at the Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Faculté Victor Segalen.

ARTISTS / WORKSHOP LEADERS

• Stefan Shankland, visual artist, has been devising and delivering various art projects related to the changes occurring within urban, industrial and natural contexts, in France and abroad. Since 2004, he is involved in various arts programmes related to demolition processes and urban regeneration, particularly in Eastern Germany. He is currently leading the TRANS305 project, a project supporting the urban changes experienced by an industrial area in Ivry-sur-Seine through arts and culture. Ivry-syr-Seine Council has supported an innovating vision, the Artistic and Cultural High Quality initiated by Stefan Shankland. The HQAC approach is aimed at local authorities, urban development professionals, researchers, artists and cultural organisations and supports them in highlighting and exploring the artistic potential of the urban area, a lively place to include in the life of the town. The time of change becomes an opportunity to exchange and experience new forms of contemporary creation integrated to the future town.
  http://stefanshankland.com/

• Maresa von Stockert is artistic director of Tilted Productions, a national Portfolio Organisation of Arts Council England. Her work combines contemporary dance, physical theatre, object manipulation and most recently also contemporary circus. Maresa has received wide recognition for her work including a Time Out Live award for Outstanding Choreography ; a Jerwood Choreography Award ; a Bonnie Bird Choreography Award. In 2011 Tilted Productions was nominated for a Critics Circle National Dance Award in the Best Independent Company category. She is currently Associate Artist with Crying Out Loud, London. Maresa von Stockert has produced a significant body of work for the stage both for Tilted Productions as well as commissions for internationally acclaimed companies such as Phoenix Dance. She is also known for her site-specific work, such as Grim(m) Desires for Wapping Power Station which enjoyed a four week sell-out run in London and for the UK and international success of her outdoor piece Seasaw. Maresa von Stockert received a Masters of Fine Arts Degree from Sarah Lawrence College, New York, USA, where she was a scholarship student in 1995/96. Originally from Germany, Maresa took her undergraduate studies at LABAN, London.

• Charlie Windelschmidt, started with circus as a teenager, in the South-West of France. After attending the Cours Florent open classes, he studied at the National School for Drama and Arts Technics (rue Blanche) between 1993 and 1996. He set up the Dérézo company based in Brest in 2000. He has directed various shows, from outdoor shows (Paper men, or Un trou dans la ville in the Abbesses area for the Nuit Blanche in Paris event), to masks-based shows (workshops leader at various universities including Mulhouse, Rennes 2, UBO Brest, conservatoire de la Roche-sur-Yon...etc) or cabaret shows (see Kabarê Flottant or Kabarê Solex). Contemporary dramaturgy is at the heart of his work. He was associate artist (artist in residence) in various organisations such as Filature from 2001 to 2003, and Mulhouse National Theatre from 2010 to 2012. Between 2007 to 2010, he led an adaptation of Microfiction from Régis Jauffret, in collaboration with Valéry Warnotte, involving more than 200 performers, at the Théâtre du Rond-Point, broadcast live on French radio France Culture as part of the Nuit Blanche event in Paris, then for the Brest, Mulhouse, Le Havre National Theatres as well as Washington DC and Atlanta USA. He is currently associate artist (artist in residence) at le Volcan, Le Havre National Theatre, until 2015, working on developing new show Les Habitants, text by Lisa Lacombe. http://www.derezo.com