ZU-UK presents HOUSE OF HEALING- A Performative Conference

Academics, activists and artists will be brought together to explore new forms of collaboration at a one-day performative conference taking place later this month, facilitated by theatre innovators and digital arts champions ZU-UK. Including talks, performances, workshops and plenty of opportunity to interact, share ideas and dream up future collaborations, the conference will ask how artists, activists and academics can work together to generate projects that are innovative and also have real impact, why it is it valuable to make cross-disciplinary work, and what creative methods for collaboration across disciplines can look like.

Framing the call to collaboration as a basis for creative political opposition, the day will include a range of performances, discussions and workshops. The conference will be framed by a series of talks showcasing existing interdisciplinary and collaborative projects with themes of mental health and wellbeing:

· Live artist and playwright, and founding co-director of Forest Fringe Deborah Pearson will speak about her work on The Queen West Project, a site specific immersive dance piece that questioned the relationship between homelessness and mental health in Queen West, Toronto.

· Artist, researcher and founder of the Walking Artists Network Clare Qualmann will speak about East End Jam, a participatory walking, foraging, picking and preserving project that celebrates the unexpected fruitfulness of the urban environment.

· Multidisciplinary artist and founder of Mental Spaghetti Marie-Louise Plum will speak about supporting and developing art from the margins, including facilitating workshops, exhibitions and collaborative arts projects with artists at risk of social exclusion, particularly due to mental health distress and complex needs.

The event will also include workshops, games and performances by invited artists, which will encompass a wide range of activities, including walks, matchmaking and project prototypes.

Jorge Lopes Ramos, ZU-UK Co-Artistic Director said, "Body Brain Bingo has been our most ambitious project so far, where ZU-UK has used its artist-led methodology to explore new ground in collaborations between artists, researchers and activists."

'House of Healing' is part of 'Body Brain Bingo', a year-long project bringing together UCL researchers with artists and activists to generate new models of collaboration between the fields, facilitated by ZU-UK. Responding to recent world urgencies, 'Body Brain Bingo' encourages unconventional and deviant forms of creativity to challenge the established understanding of collaboration and co-production, as well as approaches to interacting with community stakeholders, and reaching new audiences. 'House of Healing' showcases the work that has come before; to present our research/artwork/community activism in a new way, informed by the previous 'Body Brain Bingo' sessions.

Formerly known as Zecora Ura and Para Active, ZU-UK is an established award winning independent theatre and digital arts company based in East London and Rio de Janeiro since 2001. Driven by an artistic partnership between Jorge Lopes Ramos and Persis Jade Maravala, ZU-UK aim to make transformational and unforgettable immersive art for the curious. As a British company that has successfully maintained a satellite base in Brazil for over a decade, ZU-UK has a strong track record of collaborating across cultures and artistic disciplines, delivering ambitious innovation with depth and integrity. Their previous events include 'Dramaturgy of Participation', discussing best practice for immersive events, 'What Makes the Perfect LAB?', sharing their first prototype version of a wearable tech and game design, and their 'Artistic Leadership Talk Series', which was part of their Masters Programme run with University of East London. In 2015 the company also opened GAS Station in Stratford, a new space dedicated to projects, ideas and conversations that live somewhere in the intersection between Games, Live Performance and Technology.

@iamzuuk | www.zu-uk.com | www.gas-station.uk

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