Hello everyone,
Happy New Year. I hope however you celebrated the Holidays was nice and if you didn’t feel up for celebrating that something nice comes your way sooner rather than later.
This weeks etude is a bit of a cheat one. It’s not really about things to catch live this week and more of a focus on artists I want to support coming in to the new year. It’s not a “Faces To Watch 2k21” sort of thing. It’s more a, I like these and you may like them too sort of thing.
These are artists who are intergal parts to the Manchester arts scene and show off the huge bredth of styles in form that is being experimented with in the region. They aren’t artists who are closely linked towards a particular institution but stand alongside them.
Do the basic things to support these artists. Follow them on socials. Comment on their videos. If they have a paypal drop them some money. Shout about them.
Blackhaine
Suggested watch - collab with Inkke
Blackhaine is a choreogrpaher, dancer and muscian. They’ve created work with Mykki Blanco and are a member of All Choreographers are Bastards. I’ve never seen anyone move like Blackhaine before. They are so uniquely themselves and it feels so fresh. They dance with the brutality of a nightout thats gone south, the endurance of a rave thats gone on a day longer than planned and the hatred of seeing towns being ripped apart by gentrification. Blackhaine balances vulnerabilty and toughness in a way I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. I’ve only seen their work through music videos and documentation of performances and I’m desperate to see them live in the future, the electricty of their performances shoots through screens and I imagine it’ll shatter eyes if seen live.
Amy Lawerence
Suggested watch - TUCH
Amy makes work that is considered. With an awareness of the body and how every facet of human/s enviroment can affect it. She gives so much space and room for her collaboraters to exist in. The dialouge she creates with these collaboraters occupies an equal sense of tactile vulnerablity that feels both delicate and explosive. It’s like when you knock a prized vase that’s on a plinth. It’ll pivot on it’s spot for a while, a small ritual like dance, preparing it’s viewers for the crash. The anticipation and the crash feel equal. Again, I’ve only seen her work through documentation, I really hope someone programmes TUCH soon though, there’s a carthasis to the piece when watching during a lockdown. She was a supported artist at the Royal Exchange and will be relaseing a video work with the New Creatives scheme later this year.
onlytheantscansaveusnow
Suggested watch - The Safe Use of Ladders + Stepladders
There should be more antifacist performance. Not shows where we try and sympathise with white supermasicts and turn facisim into some distance, abstracted idea that only exists digitally but shows that understands that fascisim is real and growing. We’re beyond learnign from history, we need to look forward and act now.
onlytheantscansaveusnow makes work that has “punching fascists is good actually” at the core of it’s politics and also in their performance aestethics. They take the post-ironic, very online language and imagery to create work that guides audiences into weighty leftist theory.
I first met onlytheantscansaveus practicing what they preached, standing alongside them on a picket line and from there on I knew that their art was from a place of a genuine sense of solidarity and was active in it’s politics.
More artists on picket lines in 2021 plz.
Toni-Dee Paul
Suggested Watch - My Fathers Kitchen
Toni-Dee Paul is an artist that listens. You can tell in the way that she looks at you and how she talks to you. During a time where care gets branded about a lot by artists trying to seem trendy, Toni actually makes with care. I don’t want to call this care radical becuase there’s something that cuts to a more personal tone with it. Care is not used a one size fits all plaster but one that has been built from a space of listening and allowing room for wounds to heal. I trust Toni to care for me as an audience member and I feel like thats a hard thing to build.
I can’t wait to spend some time with Toni. I want to sit and listen to what she has to say.
Toni-Dee Paul is an associate artists and acces assistant for Selina Thomspon and has created work for Unlimted, Divergency and Word of Warning.
idontloveyouanymore
Suggested Watch - To Miss the Ending (Trailer)
I think idontloveyouanymore are superstars. Their VR show has been selected for Sundance and won an award at London Film Festival. They were shortlisted for the Samuel Beckett award and won an award for design at NSDF. You don’t meet many emerging makers who have such an ambitious visual language as they do. They’re making work that artists take years to reach, it just feels so big. I find it mad a venue hasn’t picked them up and taken them under their wing. They deserve the space and time to create even more ambitious works in theatre. As live theatre takes a shift towards aligning digital expericens with irl theatre work, this company are already experiemening and pushing these boundaries, they have proof of creating ambitious and engaging work through these platforms. If you’re reading this and you want to take a risk, take a risk on idontloveyouanymore. It’ll be worth it
An aside
The last week of 2020, the news of the passing of two heroes of mine cut me pretty deep. I’m still in shock about the deaths of John Huber and Daniel Dumer and it’s probably going to take a while to get over them. I just wanted to share some things they’ve done that I really liked
John Huber aka Luke Harper aka Brodie Lee
John Huber was the best big man in the business. A call back to the classic brawlers such as Bruiser Brody and Stan Hansen mixed in with the impressive agility picked up during his days at Chikara. I got back into Proffesional Wrestling in 2012 thanks to CM Punk, The Shield and catching the tail end of the golden years of TNA, wrestling seemed exciting again. Under the name Luke Harper, John caught my eye. A big fella who could beat the piss out of someone who was part of the fairly unique Wyatt Family stable. In 2014, he had his first singles run in WWE which lead to a Intercontinental championship run. This match shouldn’t be as good as it had any right to be. It was brutal with spots I hadn’t seen in a ladder match before. It subverted the expecation of what can be done in these types of matches. It didn’t follow a tried and tested routine, it let these performers tell their own story which felt unique to their rivaly going into the match. It’s my favorutie match of his.
Daniel Dumer aka MF DOOM aka DOOM aka Viktor Vaughan aka JJ DOOM aka King Geedorah aka MadVillain
I got into DOOM through this track. It opened the door for me to sit endleslly on my dads computer trying to find out more about him. He was a cool guy in a mask and as a 13 year old, all you needed was a neat gimmick and I’m hooked. About a year after, I found DangerDOOM in a record store in Manchester and was so excited. It felt like a little secret only I knew about becuase non of my mates thought he was any good. Years went by with feeling that only I knew about DOOM but then twitter happened and everyone knew about him. But I wasn’y annoyed about that, it was so great. Seeing people like DOOM felt like a calling card for people I wanted to be friends with, peoples whos taste I trust.
Thanks again for subscribing and taking the time to read through.
If you watch any of the shows or have any feedback drop me a message on twitter and please do share with people!
Hope you have a lovely week and talk soon!
Josh x