Project X Presents

Last updated

Project X Presents was a collaborative arts network based in Birmingham, England, active from around 2004 to 2009. The group produced a series of themed performance events in the city which they christened "omnimedia experiences".

Contents

Origins

The network was centred on Rich Batsford, Marc Reck, Anne-Marie Pope and Ant Ramm, [1] [2] [3] who become friends during shared participation in various creative endeavours including the Fierce! festival and the music and party scene based in and around the Birmingham suburb of Moseley. Their intention was to create a new form of live event enabling each participant to further their own practice, as well as to learn from engaging with other disciplines. [1] The show would involve and engage the audience at different levels, leading them on a potentially transformative journey.

Practice

The group coined the phrase "omnimedia experience" to describe a new kind of event to potentially include any kind of creative endeavour such as a wide variety of styles of music along with stand up comedy, poetry, physical theatre, dynamic visual projections, dance, set design, costume, make up, interactive installations and even aroma.

Through an organic collaborative process, the group took all these many disparate and diverse strands and wove them together into one seamless, immersive, holistic whole, so the many parts effectively become one. [4]

The core structure around which the events evolved was an experiential narrative, a series of stages defining the mood which the group aimed to lead the audience through. This was developed from the observation that audiences engage with different types of performance in different ways and that sequenced sections could lead the audiences through progressively elevated emotional states, as though they were experiencing a whole series of different events, but all combined into one seamless experience. The experiential narrative structure for the first event was "meditation, exploration, celebration."

A modular composition technique was developed to program a sequence of acts around this structure, centred mainly around the music along with stand up comedy and poetry. Each group or individual was asked to collaborate with those performing directly afterwards and before them create a new segue section. This was designed to stimulate the production of exciting new work and create the seamless ongoing experience for the audience. Dynamic visual projections, sets and physical theatre performances were also added to complement and enhance the action.

The ethos was one of shared effort for the common good, no one was paid for their time and most of the equipment was borrowed or provided by the participants themselves. Two small grants were received from the Arts Council. Decision making was organic, consensual and collective and there was a conscious effort to demonstrate the possibilities of positive and cooperative action. The process arose out of friendship and continued in that vein throughout. [5]

Each performance was delivered in a different venue, making use of spaces that aren't usually used for live performance. Those involved in production had access to the space for the whole week leading up to the main performance, to assemble the staging, sound, lighting and set design. Each performance was preceded by a full dress rehearsal.

Anne-Marie Pope took a major role in coordinating and producing the early events along with Ant Ramm and Rich Batsford who also acted as music coordinator. [6] Former BRMB rock DJ Robin Valk assisted with music programming.

Events

Like Fxck

Project X Presents design by Martin Vernon Project X Presents designed by Martin Vernon.jpg
Project X Presents design by Martin Vernon

The first event, held at the Epic Skate Park in Moseley, on 8 July 2006, 18 months in the planning and named Like Fxck in recognition of its ambitious and seemingly improbable nature, ran for six hours with performances running continuously on three different stages and a sell out audience located in the space created in the middle. At various times performances would take place either on one stage or sometimes two or all three. The event was billed as "a cabaret for the clubbing generation" and was likened to a 1960s happening and a "pseudo-symphony".

Performers included The Destroyers a 13 piece gypsy klezmer band who participated in an ‘aural fight’ with pop/punk outfit Koala Grip, stand up comedian Reginald D. Hunter, [1] pianist/composer Rich Batsford, DJ Marc Reck, [7] electronica composer Iain Amstrong, Jazz duo Ralph Allin and Jadie Carey, VJ Chromatouch, an experiment using sound frequencies to physically affect the bodies of the audience, [8] singer/songwriter Richard Burke, Unterwelt, a physical theatre troupe created specially for the event including actress Lucy Holtom, actor Adam Skerrett and performance manager Chris Skerrett, [9] a world music ensemble and techno belly dancers. A video was made recording elements of the event. [10]

For the set design, scenic artist Martin Vernon used withy to sculpt various structures which were illuminated to dramatic effect.

Gigbeth

The 2007 event Project X Presents Composite 1.jpg
The 2007 event
The 2007 event Project X Presents Composite 2.jpg
The 2007 event
The 2007 event Project X Presents Composite 3.jpg
The 2007 event
The 2007 event Project X Presents Composite 4.jpg
The 2007 event

An event at the Rainbow Warehouse, Digbeth, Birmingham, on 3 November 2007, presented as the pinnacle of the weekend’s Gigbeth music festival, taking a more theatrical approach than the first show and centring on a narrative based on the Hero's Journey by Joseph Campbell which takes its structure from Campbell’s study of the great myths and legends. [11] Characters included a demonic clown, semi-deranged Bacchic priestesses performed by the Kindle Theatre Company, actress Rahil Liapopolou, Lucy Nicholls, capoeira dancers and other "strange, shady characters", in a performance directed by Pyn Stockman. [6] [12]

Musical highlights included Islamic vocal group Aashiq al-Rasul and instrumental heavy post-rock band Einstellung who produced a collaboration also including the minimalist piano of Rich Batsford and a new incarnation of the 'aural fight' this time comprising a digital vs analogue sound clash. [13]

The show was described as "a seamless six hour journey of fantasy and light" by Bearded recognising a progression created by adding another screen between each of the stages to those directly above each stage, to effectively create a 360-degree visual environment. [14] The Birmingham Post called it "an intelligent and unique show destabilising the established role of the 'spectator' in performance theatre and drawing you in to an impressively eclectic and complex mix of art forms." [12]

A video was produced explaining the event, noting some of the acts and the group's links with other creative organisations in Birmingham. [15]

XLab VL

The smaller of two events in 2008, held at Concrete, in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter, on 22 February, included an audio/visual performance from VJ Chromatouch and the genesis of the Object X team who created a series of interactive art installations. A performance from pianist Rich Batsford was transmitted in real time to the venue from Adelaide University via the internet and the music also featured experimental electronica from Steve Loopz and indie pop from Shana Tova. [16] [17]

Digital Dystopia

The Digital Dystopia event on 13 September 2008, explored the darker side of the digital revolution including the threats of CCTV, ID Cards and online tracking with music including Subsource (live breakbeat, rave, metal), ambient DJ Mixmaster Morris, [18] ska band 360, romany punk from Daz and Anne from Mamamatrix, downtempo electronica from Arc Vel and burlesque pop from Lil Ms Vix Buzzfox aka Vix from 1980s rockers Fuzzbox. The event culminated in a combined DJ/AV set from Marc Reck and Liam d’Authreau with a programmed narrative which marked the start of Reck’s DJ Narrative project. Spoken word artists included a number of local poets affiliated as Wrote Under, Louise Stokes and a third Project X appearance from comedian Reginald D. Hunter. [19]

The "Object X" (David Checkley, Paul Kent, Richard Hubbard) group produced a number of hand held synthesisers nicknamed 'buzz boxes' which were distributed around the audiences to enable them to take part in the event as well as a whole room full of futuristic artistic installations and an entrance piece designed by Tony Coleman and created by Paul Kent in which audience members were interrogated by a virtual "Big Sister" entity.

Performances also included tribal fusion belly dance from Khalgani and an audio/visual/dance piece with choreography from Lisa Natasha Wetton and music from Rich Batsford. Images devised by VJ Chromatouch were projected onto two dancers wearing white who had been led to a captive space by cyborg ushers in a scene inspired by Science Fiction film THX 1138. [20]

The Metro newspaper described the event as "an avant-garde attack on a reality TV society". [21] A video was created featuring a number of performances from the event. [22]

Xhibition

The final Project X Presents event, on 9 May 2009, saw an emphasis on an exhibition of fine art featuring work from Mandy Kasafir, Nisha Grover, Gabriella Gardosi, Matt Robinson, cartoonist Hunt Emerson and a number of Project X regulars. [23] A programme of acoustic music in St Mary’s Church featured Chris Tye, whilst a longer more varied evening of performance upstairs at The Cross featured ska-punk from The Cracked Actors, the Moksha Medicine Men featuring Rohit Ballal on sitar, a set from DJ Marc Reck and an uncredited appearance from comedian John Gordillo. [24] [25]

Some of the events took place outdoors including a mobile projection unit powered by a car battery and mounted on a wheelchair which was created by Liam d’Authreau (Blend) and operated by Paul Kent and Charlie Machin.

Hunt Emerson designed the poster for the event depicting Moseley as the centre of the universe after a cartoon by Saul Steinburg which first appeared on the cover of The New Yorker. [26]

The event also included the premiere of Music is not Pollution, a short film produced by Project X in response to a situation in which several venues which supported the live music scene in Birmingham were facing threat of closure due to complaints from nearby residents [27] and another in which Lyndall Kay interviewed "Pete the Feet", a local Moseley character. [28]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disc jockey</span> Person who plays recorded music for an audience

A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs, club DJs, mobile DJs, and turntablists. Originally, the "disc" in "disc jockey" referred to shellac and later vinyl records, but nowadays DJ is used as an all-encompassing term to also describe persons who mix music from other recording media such as cassettes, CDs or digital audio files on a CDJ, controller, or even a laptop. DJs may adopt the title "DJ" in front of their real names, adopted pseudonyms, or stage names.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moseley</span> Human settlement in England

Moseley is an affluent suburb of south Birmingham, England, three miles south of the city centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scratching</span> Turntablism technique

Scratching, sometimes referred to as scrubbing, is a DJ and turntablist technique of moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable to produce percussive or rhythmic sounds. A crossfader on a DJ mixer may be used to fade between two records simultaneously.

Shpongle is a psychedelic electronic music project from England that formed in 1996. The group includes Hallucinogen and Raja Ram. The duo are considered to be one of the progenitors of the psybient genre — a genre combining world music with psychedelic trance and ambient. Their musical style combines traditional music from all over the world and vocals with contemporary western synthesizer-based psychedelic music. When asked to describe Shpongle's music, Posford has responded that it is "like nothing you've ever heard before."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital Xtra</span> British radio station

Capital XTRA is a Global-owned radio station that broadcasts on 96.9 FM and 107.1 FM in Greater London. Nationally, it is heard on DAB Digital Radio, Freesat, Sky, Virgin Media and Global Player. It specialises in hip hop, grime and R&B music, and is a commercial competitor to BBC Radio 1Xtra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Cox</span> British DJ

Carl Cox is a British house and techno club DJ, radio DJ and record producer. He is based in Frankston, Victoria, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keller Williams</span> American musician

Keller Williams is an American singer, songwriter and musician who combines elements of bluegrass, folk, alternative rock, reggae, electronica/dance, jazz, funk, along with other assorted genres. He is often described as a 'one-man jam-band' due to his frequent use of live phrase looping with multiple instruments. Keller Williams was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia on February 4, 1970, and began playing the guitar in his early teens. He later matriculated at Virginia Wesleyan College in Virginia Beach where he received his degree in theater. After college, he moved to Colorado to advance his music career and expand his repertoire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jay Sean</span> British singer

Kamaljit Singh Jhooti, better known by the stage name Jay Sean, is a British singer and songwriter. He debuted in the UK's Asian Underground scene as a member of the Rishi Rich Project with "Dance with You", which reached No. 12 on the UK Singles Chart in 2003. This led to him being signed to Virgin Records and having two UK top 10 hits as a solo artist in 2004: "Eyes on You" at No. 6 and "Stolen" at No. 4. They were included in his critically acclaimed debut album Me Against Myself which, though only moderately successful in the UK, sold more than two million copies across Asia and remains his most successful album to date. Alongside the Rishi Rich Project, Sean was a pioneer of Bhangra-R&B fusion, which his debut album helped popularize among the worldwide South Asian diaspora.

A DJ mix or DJ mixset is a sequence of musical tracks typically mixed together to appear as one continuous track. DJ mixes are usually performed using a DJ mixer and multiple sounds sources, such as turntables, CD players, digital audio players or computer sound cards, sometimes with the addition of samplers and effects units, although it is possible to create one using sound editing software.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marc Scarpa</span>

Marc Scarpa is an American entrepreneur, producer and director specializing in live participatory media. He is the executive board member and the founding New York Chair of the Producers Guild of America New Media Council and a recipient of the Marc A. Levey distinguished service award. Scarpa is the CEO and founder of Definance Media. Scarpa has received a Webby Award in 2010 for Best Event / Live Webcast for his work on the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, a Cannes Bronze Lion for Branded Content and Entertainment for the X Factor Pepsi Digital Preshow and Xtra Factor App and four Social TV Awards including Best of Show for X Factor Pepsi Digital Preshow and Xtra Factor App. Additionally, he has been a panelist for conferences such as NATPE, X-Summit, LTE North America, Digital Hollywood and Canadian Music Week among others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silent disco</span> Dancing to music via headphones

A silent disco or silent rave is an event where people dance to music listened to on wireless headphones. Rather than using a speaker system, music is broadcast via a radio transmitter with the signal being picked up by wireless headphone receivers worn by the participants. Those without the headphones hear no music, giving the effect of a room full of people dancing to nothing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Complex Networks</span> American media and entertainment company

Complex Networks is an American media and entertainment company for youth culture, based in New York City. It was founded as a bi-monthly magazine, Complex, by fashion designer Marc (Ecko) Milecofsky. Complex Networks reports on popular and emerging trends in style, sneakers, food, music, sports and pop culture. Complex Networks reached over 90 million unique users per month in 2013 across its owned and operated and partner sites, socials and YouTube channels. The print magazine ceased publication with the December 2016/January 2017 issue. Complex currently has 6.02 million subscribers and 1.8 billion total views on YouTube. As of 2019, the company's yearly revenue was estimated to be US$200 million, 15% of which came from commerce.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Voisey</span> American composer and producer

Robert Voisey is a composer and producer of electroacoustic and chamber music. He founded Vox Novus in 2000 to promote the music of contemporary composers and in 2001 created The American Composer Timeline, the first in-depth listing of American composers, spanning from 1690 to the present, to appear on the Internet. A producer of new music and multi-media concerts and events, Voisey is best known for producing the 60x60 project, which he started in 2003 in order to promote contemporary composers and their music. He also founded and directs the Composer's Voice Concert Series as well as the chamber music project Fifteen Minutes of Fame as well as vice president of programs for the Living Music Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Headhunterz</span> Dutch Hardstyle DJ and record producer

Willem Rebergen, better known by his stage name Headhunterz, is a Dutch DJ and music producer. Rebergen is also a voice actor. He has done dubbing for several movies and TV series. He started his career in 2005 working on Hardstyle music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Mary's Church, Moseley</span> Church

St Mary's Church, Moseley is a Grade II listed parish church in the Church of England located in Moseley, Birmingham. It is now part of a united benefice with St Anne's Church, Moseley. The War Memorial in the South-East corner of the Churchyard, facing Oxford Road, is unusual in that it depicts Christ upon the cross in carved stone. The War Memorial has achieved its own Grade II listing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Street Soul Productions</span>

Street Soul Productions (S.S.P) Is a record label established in 2005. Originally based in Birmingham, London, Ipswich and California the label became a community organization in 2008, and since then has concentrated on music workshops and events alongside online broadcasting. The label is called Street Soul to pay tribute to the hip hop genre, in particular the Jazzmatazz movement from the mid-1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UK Asian Music Awards</span> Music Award held in the United Kingdom

The UK Asian Music Awards, also known by the abbreviation UK AMA, was an awards show that was held annually in the United Kingdom from 2002 to 2012. The awards show has been produced and broadcast by B4U Music since 2008. Awards winners were decided by public voting at a website, from a list of nominees presented by the event organizers, except for the special category awards "Outstanding Achievement" and "Commitment to Scene" which are decided by the organizers. Desimag called the event "The most prestigious Asian music awards ceremony in the UK".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rich Batsford</span> Musical artist

Richard William Batsford is an English pianist, composer and singer-songwriter. He is a recording artist and a frequent performer, initially in and around his birthplace in Birmingham, England, and more recently in Adelaide, Australia, presenting concerts featuring original solo piano music with a classical influence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Projection mapping</span> Using software to guide the placement of light displays on objects

Projection mapping, similar to video mapping and spatial augmented reality, is a projection technique used to turn objects, often irregularly shaped, into display surfaces for video projection. The objects may be complex industrial landscapes, such as buildings, small indoor objects, or theatrical stages. Using specialized software, a two- or three-dimensional object is spatially mapped on the virtual program which mimics the real environment it is to be projected on. The software can then interact with a projector to fit any desired image onto the surface of that object. The technique is used by artists and advertisers who can add extra dimensions, optical illusions, and notions of movement onto previously static objects. The video is commonly combined with or triggered by audio to create an audiovisual narrative. In recent years the technique has also been widely used in the context of cultural heritage, as it has proved to be an excellent edutainment tool.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flula Borg</span> German actor, comedian, and musician (born 1982)

Flula Borg, often known simply as Flula, is a German actor, comedian, and musician. Borg's acting career includes roles in feature films, including Pitch Perfect 2 and The Suicide Squad, as well as in a number of television shows, including Curb Your Enthusiasm,The Good Place, Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin, and The Rookie. He has made multiple appearances on Conan and has participated in a number of other collaborations with Conan O'Brien.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Grimley, Terry (20 June 2006). "Skate expectations". Birmingham Post . p. 13.
  2. ↑ "Rich Batsford". Created in Birmingham. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
  3. ↑ Jones, Simon (13 June 2008). "Time to start singing from the same hymnsheet". Birmingham Post.
  4. ↑ "Omnimedia". Project X Presents. 2008. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  5. ↑ "Rich Batsford". Created in Birmingham. October 2007. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  6. 1 2 Reck, Marc (6 November 2007). "Project X Presents 2 was…" . Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  7. ↑ "Metro". 6 July 2006. p. 23.
  8. ↑ "Birmingham Whats On". 1–14 July 2006.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. ↑ BBC.co.uk 13 June 2006
  10. ↑ projectxpresents (10 January 2007). "Project X Performance" – via YouTube.
  11. ↑ Batsford, Rich (21 November 2007). "Experiential Narrative" . Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  12. 1 2 Kucharczyk, Stefan (5 November 2007). "Festival has talent at its fingertips". Birmingham Post. p. 12.
  13. ↑ "The Aurul Fight @ Project X Presents 2". 29 January 2008. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  14. ↑ "Bearded". Bearded: 12. July 2007.
  15. ↑ projectxpresents (13 September 2007). "Never Mind the Bullring here's Project X Presents" – via YouTube.
  16. ↑ "Project X Presents: Xlab V1". Project X Presents. 8 February 2008. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  17. ↑ Rich Batsford (26 February 2008). "Completion - Epic Piano Piece!" – via YouTube.
  18. ↑ "Whats On". 6–19 September 2008.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  19. ↑ Unitt, Chris (13 September 2008). "Project X Presents... Digital Dystopia" . Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  20. ↑ projectxpresents (3 April 2009). "Digital X - Digital Dystopia" – via YouTube.
  21. ↑ "Metro". 9 September 2008. p. 23.
  22. ↑ projectxpresents (3 April 2009). "Digital Dystopia - an Omnimedia Experience" – via YouTube.
  23. ↑ "Whats on in Brum". Whats on in Brum. 27 April 2009.
  24. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  25. ↑ Reck, Mark (10 May 2009). "Project X Presents – Xhibition – Sat 9th May 2009" . Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  26. ↑ "Xhibition Poster". Project X Presents. 1 May 2009. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  27. ↑ projectxpresents (15 May 2009). "Music Is Not Pollution" – via YouTube.
  28. ↑ projectxpresents (2 June 2009). "Pete The Feet" – via YouTube.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.