Collaboration is central to Ania Bas’ practice. She works with people to create work in everyday spaces, for everyday situations. Bas’ practice blurs boundaries between performance, the public tour and mobile phone technology. Isles of Silly is an exploration together with Year 9 students into the contested spaces around the school. Each ‘isle’ is an individual spot within the school grounds, marking a space of importance. Some ‘isles’ are ‘dodgy and fuming, hidden and calm or high-maintenance’, but all are ‘worth visiting’.
Bas builds on students’ concerns to devise a performative tour of the ‘isles’ through corridors and hidden places of the school. Bas creates one more ‘isle’ in the main courtyard, hosting a number of events, some of them humorous, making a link between the world that exists on either side of the school gate. Please click the link of the sidebar to see a short film about the project and a link to the publication ‘Isles of Silly’ completed after the residency.
Past Events:
School Project: Contested Spaces
Stoke Newington School & Sixth Form
St Angela’s Ursuline School
A second inspiration was the exhibition Where Three Dreams Cross: 150 Years of Photography from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh at the Whitechapel Gallery, winter 2010. Ania Bas and Torange Khonsari investigated with young people how fluctuating political, social and geographic borders or boundaries affect the ways an area and its population can be seen. Contested Spaces engaged
pupils in an exploration of their own geographic, spatial and social territories.
Artists in Conversation: Contested Spaces with Ania Bas and Torange Khonsari (Public Works)
Whitechapel Gallery
Thursday 17 June 2010
What makes a school a ‘contested space’ and how can it be a site of activity and enquiry? Special talk with the artists.
Live Performance: Ania Bas: Isles of Silly
Thursday 8 July 2010, tours at 3pm & 5pm
Stoke Newington School
(free, booking essential)
Artist Ania Bas uses techniques of performance and the public tour to disrupt ideas about art and the role of the artist. Join her and students for a live performative tour of classrooms and corridors.
