E-Motional Artists in London

body>data>space is producing and hosting ‘London – Mapping the E-Motional City’ Artistic Research with Watermans Art Centre from 14 to 26th January 2013, with an inter-disciplinary group of 5 artists exploring the megatropolis and its underlying bodies and emotions.

We are very glad to welcome the E-Motional Artistic Research Group 2: Gemma Riggs (UK), Mircea Ghinea (Romania), Laura Murphy (Ireland), Kaspers Lielgalvis (Latvia) and Alexis Vassiliou (Cyprus).

Through the whole E-Motional project, Two different artistic teams will embark together in a co-authorship process to explore the relation between the human body, the urban and geo-political context and new technologies.

Each artistic team is composed of five artists, one from each country, who may also come from different disciplines. The groups will have the chance to interact, work and benefit from the support of three local dancers or other associated artists. Each research period will also include a number of workshops and video-lectures open to local participants and artists, and will conclude with an informal presentation open to the local audience in the respective city.


ARTIST GROUP 2

Locations & working periods
Riga: September 1-15, 2012
London: January 14-28, 2013
Bucharest: April 4-14, 2013

Mircea Ghinea (Romania). I have been a dancer for the most of my life. I never choreographed for myself (except in the university), but I did it a lot in the others’ performances. So, a real dancer, let’s say. I have danced in many Romanian choreographers performances so far, almost with all of them (Mihai Mihalcea, Cosmin Manolescu, Razvan Mazilu, Florin Fieroiu, Maria Baroncea & Eduard Gabia, etc). Of course, with many from abroad too (Massimo Gerardi, Isabelle Fuchs, Galina Borissova, Brynjar Bandlien). I like very much the dance itself, so I tried many directions (that are not familiar with my education) like street, hip-hop, jazz, etc. I know a lot of people in dance overall, each one with its own world, style. I like a lot the human body itself, maybe too much, so everything that is related to it interests me. Now I am getting older, let’s say, and my body starts to feel this, though there is still much left. About ten years ago I did a brake with dance for about one year and a half. At that time I didn’t want to perform anymore. But I was around the stage, I did light-design in a small dance theatre. This was a very good experience because I worked with many Romanian choreographers, plus I realized that light is a strong element performance wise. Being pretty skilled I worked a couple of times as set designer, or building some scenography for some dance performances. Working physically with materials (whatever they are) is also one of my pleasures.

Laura Murphy (Ireland). On completion of a MA, Contemporary Dance Performance at University of Limerick (2003), Laura trained at Trinity Laban, London graduating in 2006. Subsequently, Laura established herself as a dance artist, performer, choreographer and teacher. As a professional dancer, Laura has worked with choreographers including Daria Fain (NYC), Steve Batts (Ire), Mary Nunan (Ire) and Elena Rolla (It), and performed at leading events such as Biennale de Lyon (2009) with Italian Dance Company, DAS. Laura’s choreographic work has been performed internationally to include New York, Canada, Sweden and Iceland, along side various national venues. Laura is also co-founder and co-director of Folded Productions with dance artist Ailish Claffey. With a specialisation in Choreological Studies, clarity and communication are at the forefront of Laura’s artistic ambitions. Interdisciplinary collaborations being an integral part of her current work, Laura is exploring the representation of movement within other artistic disciplines. Based in the south of Ireland, Laura works freelance locally, nationally and internationally as a performer, choreographer and teacher. [Photo credit: Monique Besten]

Kaspers Lielgalvis (Latvia). I am a Riga-based artist. I am interested in interdisciplinary team-working combining different fields of art. My educational background is textile art, but the most exciting creative experience I’ve got was co-working with 2 artists from different disciplines, when we were creating together several art performances. We were working with live and recorded sound, light and projected images. As well we invited people to act in our performances in both spontaneous and previously revived ways. Sometimes we did it ourselves. We always let the space for improvisation. It was fun and we enjoyed, but due to lack of income, after 3 years we split up and didn’t continue. After I have learned and worked as a graphic designer, photographer and set designer. Right now I am working on development of an artist-run art center in Riga. We have an exhibition space, artist studios and residency program. We organise presentation events, poetry slams and exhibitions. We fight for better conditions for contemporary art in Latvia. We are open for all kind of disciplines, however the most of us are visual artists. For me participation in e-motional bodies & cities will be the first connection with contemporary dance and I am looking forward for this risk – to create a performance again together with unknown people.

Gemma Riggs (UK) is a film, video and installation artist who graduated from Wimbledon School of Art in 2002. Gemma’s work centres around a fascination with rhythm and fluidity, with the power of repetition and using still or moving image to transform, alter and capture a real experience. Her use of repetition and rhythm play on our perceived sense of memory and experience and the fragmentation that occurs with time. Gemma has worked extensively within theatre and performance, developing a real passion for working with the ‘live’ and investigating how image technologies work with that. She enjoys using space and environment to explore immersive experience. Creating imagery that incorporates live-action, animation, scratched film, drawing and photography, she creates a rich and textured visual experience.

Alexis Vassiliou (Cyprus) was born in Limassol in 1978. Between 2003 and 2007 he took classical and contemporary dance classes with various dance teachers in Cyprus. He then went on to study dance at Trinity-Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in the United Kingdom (2007-2008). While a student there, he received the Sylvia Bodmer Memorial Fund Award Prize in Choreological Studies and also worked with choreographers Lizzi Kew-Ross and Fleur Darkin. During the summer of 2008 he went to Austria as a Dance-Web scholarship holder for the 25th ImpulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival. In 2009 he founded NOTHINGTODECLARE in Cyprus, with the primary aim to create, develop, produce and present performing art pieces and shows, both locally and abroad. He has, since then, directed the performances: “Blissfully Happy” (2009)- Limassol Municipal Hall-Cyprus, “Peep Hole” for the 10th Contemporary Dance Platform-Rialto Theatre-Cyprus (2010) and “Snap”  for the 11th Contemporary Dance Platform-Rialto Theatre-Cyprus (2011). Since 2009 he has also been working as a performer (Cyprus). He collaborated with the following companies: Solipsism, pelma.liaharaki, Chorotheatro Omada Pende, Interact, Echo-Arts and Omada One/Off.