International Festival of Contemporary Theatre

Performances

Marking the 10th anniversary of Homo Novus, we have gathered 11 Latvian artists from various genres for a production of new small scale performances, installations or actions. These works will be based in the British theatre scholar Alan Read’s theory of “theatre as the last human venue” and structured as an event, unified in time and space.

In his book ‘Theatre, Intimacy and Engagement’, Alan Read writes: “The last human venue marks the location and moment of human beings’ awareness of their own eventual extinction. Performance, on the contrary, explores ways in which performance operates as an exciter of sentience, kick-starting our sense of being alive, acting as a pleasurable lengthening of device to extend our inevitable faith. Humans in this venue distinguish themselves from other animals through their experiencing of an extended childhood, in their ability to sustain a controlled, unbroken outward breath and by their unique capacity to aesthetically disappoint.”

‘The Last Human Venue’ programme includes performances by theatre directors Pēteris Krilovs, Vladislavs Nastavševs and Valters Sīlis, and the exhibition by directors Andrejs Jarovojs, Viesturs Meikšāns, set designers Monika Pormale, Izoldes Cēsniece, Reinis Suhanovs, fashion designers MAREUNROL’S and artistic collectives Nomadi and umka.lv.

Mental

the vacuum cleaner

3, 4, 6, 7 September 17:00 | An apartment | 7 and 5* Lats

The Metropolitan Police calls him a Domestic Extremist.
The National Health Service have described him as ‘highly disturbed’ and labeled him as Borderline Personality Disorder.
‘A real and present threat to the safe running of our lawful business’ is how E.ON described him at the Royal Courts of Justice.

He prefers the term Mental.

After 10 years of being an outlaw and inpatient, artist activist the vacuum cleaner presents an autobiographical performance told through his psychiatric records, police intelligence files and corporate injunctions collected through the Data Protection Act.

“the vacuum cleaner is one of the most significant and exciting artists working in the UK today. Blurring the boundaries between art and audiences and between performance and politics, the vacuum cleaner’s work not only gets people thinking about things, but actually doing things to effect social, cultural and political change”, Lois Keiden, Director, Live Art Development Agency

This show contains material some may find challenging, and is not suitable for people under the age of 16.

About artist

the vacuum cleaner is an art and activism collective of one.

From one man shows to large scale participatory actions, the vacuum cleaner’s approach is both subtle and extreme, but always candid, provocative and playful. His work has been exhibited throughout the UK including commissions from Tate Modern, ICA and Liverpool Biennial as well as BBC4, Channel 4 and Arte. He regularly presents work internationally both on the streets and in art spaces.

the vacuum cleaner is an Artsadmin Associate Artist and a co-founder of the Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination (2004 – 2009).

Credits

Direction and dramaturgy: Kim Noble
Producer: Hannah Hull
Designer: Sophie Nathan
Originally developed with Tania El Khoury

Mental was made with support from Arts Council England, Artsadmin and In Between Time

Related events

Artist talk: I went mental and all I got was this lousy t-shirt

September 4, 22:00, Festival hub at KKC

Over the last 10 years artist and activist collective of one, the vacuum cleaner, has become semi-notorious for his acts of street brandalism, performance interventions and online pranks. Yet during this time he has also battled with severe mental illnesses and over the last two years this has become the focus of his work (and life). In this informal presentation he presents recent, current and future projects that have blended his practice with radical approaches to his own and others neurodiversity and mental health.

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