Geraldine Pilgrim's New Outdoor Show CHAIR! Comes to Norfolk & Norwich And Brighton Festivals This May

Renowned for her evocative transformations of buildings, places and landscapes, artist Geraldine Pilgrim's latest participatory outdoor performance comes to two major UK festivals this summer - Norfolk & Norwich Festival on Saturday 9 May and Brighton Festival on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 May.

CHAIR! asks the question: “When did our public seating disappear and what would happen if we brought it back?”.

Set in a dreamlike world, CHAIR! imagines how we could once again have public spaces that care, spaces where people can sit uninterrupted, ready to relax, work, remember and imagine. Caretakers sweep away the daily litter from an empty public space, while a woman dreams of these longed-for places. What does she conjure up?  Professional performers Sarah April Lamb and Nelson Holtz are joined by locally recruited participants in a performance which is repeated several times each day. Underpinned by an evocative soundscape, it features both everyday and surreal objects and activities - and chairs.

“Everyone has the right to sit down”

Geraldine Pilgrim has been creating site-sympathetic shows long before such work became fashionable. She uses the architecture and history of a place - imagined and real – as both inspiration and narrative. The nature of her work is transformative - for audiences, participants and the communities local to the sites.

Her many highlights include 2015's Well at Dagenham's former Sanofi pharmaceutical factory, 2016's Flight at Lake Windermere in Cumbria for 14-18 NOW and 2017's The Missing Passenger for the National Railway Museum in York. Her participatory performance Handbag, originally commissioned for the Grand Hall at Battersea Arts Centre, has toured sites across the world for the past 13 years.
CHAIR! is one of ten new commissions by Without Walls which will premiere across UK festivals this summer, bringing extraordinary outdoor arts for all.

Event Details

Premiere: Norfolk & Norwich Festival
West Garth (behind St Andrew Hall)
Saturday 9 May, three performances, times tbc
FREE
https://nnfestival.org.uk/whats-on/welcome-weekend/

Brighton Festival
Market Square, Brighton
Saturday 23 May and Sunday 24 May, times tbc
https://brightonfestival.org/
FREE
https://brightonfestival.org/whats-on/XcV-chair