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For further press information contact Sally Brown, PR Consultant, on mobile 07950 870864
For an interview with the artists contact Simon Birch on 07952 691226 or Trish O'Shea on 07891 651928
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THE ARCH PROJECT
Date: Friday 12th & Saturday 13th November – 6pm-9pm
Venue: All Hallows Church, 24 Regent Terrace, Leeds LS6 1NP
CHURCH & ITS COMMUNITY INSPIRE SERIES OF ARTWORKS
All Hallows Church in the Hyde Park area of Leeds has become the setting for a unique arts project, ARCH, inspired by the church and its community.
Under the direction of visual and movement artists Simon Birch and Trish O’Shea, the entire building will be transformed into a setting for artwork created in response to the people and the places associated with All Hallows.
Presented between 6pm – 9pm on Friday 12th and Saturday 13th November, the event marks the culmination of Birch and O’Shea’s nine-month residency and kick starts a week of activities in response to the themes inherent in the work.
The artists are joined by sixteen dancers from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in a performance that redefines the interior of the building with installations incorporating live movement, film, visual imagery, text and the object.
Simon Birch explained how their interest lies in creating artwork in response to, and for, communities:
“In this instance we have aimed to make connections between what happens inside and outside of the Church” he said. “Parts of the building were not fully utilised so we hope the ARCH project will enable people to think differently about the building and how it could be used.”
Since March the artists have photographed and displayed objects of ritual and meaning; have installed in a corridor a piece in response to their walk around the Parish boundary that incorporates line, image and text; they have interviewed local shopkeepers about what it means to serve their community and have inspired members of the church to create movement for film.
Trish O’Shea described how they had created work to invoke a sense of contemplation and response from the onlooker:
“All Hallows, like many church communities, has been through a lot of changes” she said. “As artists we wanted to acknowledge this ongoing flux. It is important to us that the work has relevance to, reflects upon and inspires the All Hallows community.”
The ARCH project is funded by Arts Council England and the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds’ Fresh Expressions (an organization that supports new ways of exploring Christianity).
For more information visit www.allhallowsleeds.org.uk or contact Sarah Shead on 07849 670200.
