GOB SQUAD MASTER-CLASS

"We referred to it as Live Art...they swapped the 'v' for an 'f' and translated it as 'Life Art'.
 We liked that" (Gob Squad)

 

I attended a three-day master-class led by arts collective Gob Squad to further develop my ideas surrounding improvisation structures and working with live performance. The master-class was held at Lancaster Arts and attended by artists and theatre makers with a specific interest/relationship with devising work.

 

The master-class informed my practice, and particularly Think of Someone You Know, in its use of particular movement based exercises that looked at physical language, group movement, mirroring, repetition and feedback loops. It also focused on generating material in terms of mixing the auto-biographical with the political. The content that was formed around movement and text was then placed within layers of improvised live situations.

 

As was the case with the Chetwynd master-class, the idea of parameters came to the forefront along with the importance of calculated frameworks in allowing spontaneous and free behaviour from participants. I found the three days incredibly useful in helping to clarify my intentions regarding my situations for encounters. It gave me the confidence to aim for a larger scale situation for my final piece and once more clarified the need for my physical role within it.