Nothing to see here will ask what arts performers can learn from covert and surveillance workers. To approach this question participants will be looking at their own experiences of surveillance workers, ranging from commercial plain-clothes ticket checkers for state security workers.
From these sources they will enact a series of covert exercises, collectively and individually, in Warrington town centre. These will include working from MI5 job adverts to devise training methods, impersonating plain-clothes police officers and swapping identity articles with one another for an afternoon.
Can an action be subversive if it is unregistered? Does it count as subversion if it’s mostly in your own head? If a tree falls and no one notices, can it have a cultural impact? After two days of mimicking, impersonating, avoiding and swapping participants will have worked towards a better understanding of what it means to see and be seen in notional public space.
Simon Farid is a visual artist interested in the relationship between administrative identity and the body it purports to codify and represent. The name of his first pet was Rico. His passport number is 527604560. His favourite place to go on holiday is Berlin. His pin numbers are 1953 and 4191. His mother’s maiden name is Elsherbini. His provisional drivers license number is FARID803317SC9F 02. A quick Google search will, of course, reveal what his work is like, where he lives, what he looks like and information about other people with whom he shares his name. www.simonfarid.com
Nothing to see here is part of the Live Arts Development Agency’s (LADA) annual programme DIY, a peer to peer professional development scheme. DIY is an opportunity for artists working in Live Art to conceive and run unusual training and professional development projects for other artists. DIY understands that the development of a Live Art practice is as much about the exploration of ideas and experiences as training in skills and techniques, and past DIY projects have proved to be invaluable experiences for project leaders, participants and organisers alike. Warrington Contemporary Arts Festival is a DIY partner. www.thisisliveart.co.uk
The workshops run from Friday 9 October to Saturday 10 October in Warrington Town Centre. The workshops are now FULL.