O'Donnell
March 2009 - March 2010
Reflecting on how intense, wider political context inevitably sculpts
work, Anne Bean, who grew up in Zambia, has invited artists from
Ireland, Israel, Croatia and Kurdistan-Iraq to collaborate.
In the first instance, the artists spent a week in residence at
Toynbee Studios in March 2009 making, showing and seeing work
together. At the end of the week, they opened their studio to share
thoughts, work and experiences.
Then, on 15th May, the artists spent a day in each of their countries
working together in time to create Crossing Zones. For five hours,
they simultaneously worked with the awareness of a shared conscious
space. Frontiers, borders, demarcations, boundaries, barriers,
bureaucracy, officialdom, laws, regulations and rules all became
irrelevant to the fact that they were making a collaborative piece.
The second phase of the project took place in Zagreb andStaglinec,
Croatia from 15th to 21st June and the third phase took place in
Belfast and Cavan, Northern Ireland from 14th to 20th September. In
December 2009, the artists travelled to Tel Aviv and, whilst there,
visitedJordan to meet Poshya. The project will culminate in a
residency and performance commissioned by New Moves International for
the National Review of Live Art, Glasgow in March 2010.
PAVES is a year long collaboration between the artists supported by
the British Council's Creative Collaboration programme and Arts
Council England. The overall aim of the Creative Collaborations
programme is to enrich the cultural life of Europe and its surrounding
countries and to build trust and understanding across communities by
generating dialogue and debate.
Poshya has not been permitted to travel for the project so she has
been participating from her home in Erbil, Kurdistan-Iraq. On a recent
visit to Kurdistan, Anne collaborated with Poshya on They Are Talking
To Us and I am Thirsty which also included the other PAVES artists.
