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A unique performance event showcasing 34 UK artists across Bristol at a diverse range of Bristol-based arts organisations.


With: Leona Jones, Megan Clark-Bagnall, Nicholas Don, Shaun C Badham

From a small village in New Brunswick to a ghost town owned by a mining corporation in Nevada there are thirty four places in the world called Bristol. 

As part of 34 Bristols Arnolfini are excited to launch the weekend on Friday 5 July from 8pm with newly commissioned works by Shaun C Badham, Megan Clark-Bagnall and Leona Jones. Exploring themes of the banal, nostalgia and the philosophy of language, they present a series of performative reflections interrogating notions of place; as relational, historical and concerned with identity.  

Weekend Schedule:

Friday – begin at Arnolfini 8pm

Saturday – begin at Bristol Old Vic 2pm

Sunday – begin at Spike Island 2pm 

Please visit http://34bristols.co.uk for information on the wider programme

34 Bristols is a collaboration between Arnolfini, Bristol Old Vic, In Between Time, MAYK, M-SHED, Residence, Spike Island and Theatre Bristol. The project is supported by Jerwood Charitable Foundation and Arts Council England.

Shaun C Badham

In Official Proceedings Shaun C Badham recites and performs the last 8 years of minutes taken from Bristol, South Dakota Council. Badham creates an interactive installation, which acts as a platform for the recital. 

Megan Clark-Bagnall & Nicholas Don

We want to take you to Bristol, but we can’t. So we have bought Bristol, Texas to you. You will be able to touch, taste and meet the residents of Bristol. Experience being alone in Bristol and if it’s a clear night you might be able to spot the distant neon lights of Dallas.

Leona Jones and Siôn Dawson   

In Fire Wild: Ontario County, New York State – fourth in a line of re-namings tracking fiercely driven settlers from deep seaports, through wildernesses, dense forests and snow-capped mountains.  Some incomers chanced upon this green and blue valley paradise.  And wondered at its flaming water – a spring where water burnt fiercely, unable to be extinguished by anything other than equally elemental forces. This Bristol: now called Home by around two thousand people.

Fire enables Bristol, NY.  It’s economy is now founded on natural gas.  But fire enables all the other Bristols, too.  In fact, fire is fundamental to all human life.  Fire – scientifically defined chemical reaction – gives homo sapiens the means of continual development.  Fire – metaphorical flame of inward spaces and complex internal drives – gives us the fuel to keep journeying. 

Leona and Siôn collaborate together regularly, creating word and sound performances. Siôn is a multi-dimensional musican specialising in ‘cello and guitar, equally happy in acoustic or electric settings.  Together they’re presenting a spoken word and sound performance inspired by Bristol and the Burning Spring – and all the peoples who have ever felt In Fire Wild.

OFFSITE

Jo Hellier and Yas Clarke: The Water is Wide

Commissioned by MAYK

Sunday 7 July,  Starts outside Arnolfini 3pm / ends 7:30pm

20 performers, each with a snare drum, are spread 50 metres apart over a 1km route, from Arnolfini to the bridge close to Spike Island along the old railway. They strike their drums in sequence along the route, indicating the speed of sound, 340.29 metres per second. The interval between strikes is approximately 147ms. The sequence is repeated 4,910 times over the 1km track – the sound ultimately travelling the distance between Arnolfini in Bristol, UK and Pemaquid Point Lighthouse in Bristol, Maine, USA.