Hazard 2016

A free afternoon of incidental intervention and sited performance in Mcr City Centre, presented by Word of Warning on Saturday 9 July: turn up at any time from 12 noon to 5pm and discover activity around St Ann’s Square…

These activities happen all afternoon, 12noon-5pm

Aidan Strudwick | Human Mini-Golf
Nothing says fun like a game of mini-golf!
Said no one ever. But what if we swap those kitsch mini-windmills with full-size people in awkward positions instead? And (more importantly) what if there were prizes?!

Aidan Strudwick is a live artist based in London, forcing audiences to dance in the name of lost socks, sing karaoke to Tracey Emin monologues, and basically just make fools of themselves for art’s sake. For one day only Aidan is glamorously assisted by Kat Buchanan, cat-obsessed performance maker, and Emma Clayton, still recovering from Stockholm Syndrome.
aidanstrudwick.co.uk

Alex Bradley + Bill Leslie | COME AS YOU ARE (guerrilla mix 1.0)
Is there a facet of ourselves that is never described, put out into the world?
Bradley + Leslie are interested in how individuals perceive themselves and how others perceive them.
This piece will randomly capture an unaware participant for a limited time to externalise a view of what may or not be going on with them, describing a part that is hidden, reserved or even suppressed.
This playful set of ‘in the moment’ incidents will feature surtitling to demonstrate ways of recontextualising writer, performer, audience and participant.

Ali Wilson + Jessica Gibson | Pair of Pears
Have you seen my pear? I’m looking for my pear… It kind of looks like me, have you seen it anywhere?
In a big game of hide and seek, we’re searching for our pear, our other half, our partner. They’re somewhere in the crowd, can you spot them?
We’ll happily offer you a pear if you can help!

Full Circle Arts + Playfuel | Box Society
Welcome! Welcome! I am the Mayor of Box Society and today I invite you to join us in celebrating all that is Square and Equal!
Box Society is a game about our society — the pressure to fit in and the hurdles we face navigating our daily lives with different means and abilities. Players guide their Boxes through 9 ridiculous and arbitrary challenges to bring them into the ‘Larger Society of Boxes’, but, that will only happen if all the paperwork is complete and the bureaucrats exacting standards are met.

Full Circle Arts is a disabled-led organisation which works to involve those who are excluded from the arts. Box Society is a collaboration with urban game designers Playfuel, who create games that ask questions about the world.

Instant Dissidence | Dancing With Strangers: From Calais to England
A choreographic act of border transgression: dance with a resident from ‘The Jungle’ refugee camp in Calais, in a virtual dance making connection across borders.
Rita Marcalo (Instant Dissidence) is going to ask you to dance.
She’s been dancing with refugees in ‘The Jungle’ camp in Calais and they have created a series of duets that they would like to perform with a person in England.
As none of them is able to cross the border, if you accept Rita’s invitation you will (through her and the exchanged gift of dance) perform a duet with one of those refugees.
Dance with a stranger and complete the connection.
instantdissidence.co.uk | Funders + supporters

Nathaniel Mason | Occupied
Dying…? bursting…? gagging…?
You need a public toilet!
Step out of the rush and into your own private public toilet cubicle. Join in the toilet talk, scribble your recent tweets on the walls and deposit your waste in the people’s archive.

Nathaniel Mason is a performance maker based in Manchester whose work sits somewhere between amateur dramatics and home DIY. Interested in the actions people take to repair their things and the value of our waste and our remains, Mason’s work looks at our connection with the more-than-human-world. He has performed at festivals around the UK, most recently he has taken to the Canals investigating life off-grid, making performances and happenings along the towpath.

Sexcentenary | WE REFUSE TO BE UNSEEN
We are a collective of women, who identify as older, committed to the collective performance of ageing, feminism and gender.
Watch us employing humour and a sense of the absurd to make our point, that WE REFUSE TO BE UNSEEN.
Being invisible sucks.

un-earthed collective | Inflated Hazard — dicing with dystopia
Roll the dice, inflate the hazard…
Every generation has its defining threat: a world at war; nuclear holocaust; climate change; terrorism. A dystopian vision of the future; hazard on the horizon. The corporate media inflates these threats with sensationalism, while politicians and the state use fear as a political tool. What effect does this inflation of fear and the perception of risk have on us individually and collectively?
How the story is told has an effect.
This interactive intervention invites the audience to roll giant inflatable dice in the street, allowing chance to dictate elements of what follows, in stories of migration, climate change and war/terrorism. Participants then have a chance to tell a different story.
This playful, provocative performance is an exploration of the stories of the hazards and threats of our times and how they shape us. Whether we are witnessing ecological collapse and social unravelling or transitioning to a more sustainable, conscious and connected society is up to you. We can choose whether we live our lives by a story that shuts us down with fear, or empowers us with hope and inspiration.
What happens next? You decide.

un-earthed collective is a collective of artists, researchers and activists working together to tell the untold stories of our times through film and live performance.
NB Inflated Hazard takes the form of a series of timed performances and an ongoing installation with which you can interact.

Discover what else is happening by clicking on a time below

Activities each hour… 12noon-1pm | 1-2pm | 2-3pm | 3-4pm | 4-5pm

Credits

Hazard 2016 is produced by hÅb, in collaboration with the participating artists; supported using public funding by Arts Council England + funded by Manchester City Council. Thanks to the Royal Exchange Theatre.
hazardmcr.org | @HazardMcr | #HazardMcr