Local artist joins Collision Nordic project in London’s Southbank

Local artist Alan Perez will be taking part in Collision Nordic 2017, a project at the Southbank Centre in London. The six day project will run for six days from 13 - 18 January this year. 11 Nordic artists have been selected to participate in this project and they will be working with 11 UK artists in collaborative work. Mr Perez was invited to be one of the 11 selected UK artists and will be representing Gibraltar internationally in this project.

Mr Perez told the Chronicle was extremely excited to be able to contribute to such an interesting project. All this he said was linked to art residency projects. Mr Perez participated in the art residency project as part of the last Island Games in Jersey and is keen to promote such events which he feels offers great opportunities for artists.

Collision aims to bring together artists at the Southbank Centre with performances, talks, workshops and open rehearsals to meeting Southbank Centre staff, visiting artists and members of the local community, whilst providing time and space to work alone or collaboratively, eat together and explore the borough of Lambeth.

Collision first took place in 2010 as part of the Artists in Residence scheme.

Las year they revisited the model offering the opportunity to 10 artists whom Southbank Centre had collaborated with. In both years each artist invited another artist to take part in this unique experience and build a relationship with Southbank Centre.

Collision 2017 is part of Nordic Matters, a year-long exploration of Nordic arts and culture throughout 2017. The programme will embed Nordic culture and artists in Southbank Centre’s year-long artistic offer and annual festival including artists from Åland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

A particular emphasis will be placed on three main themes influenced by Nordic identity and society: play fostering curiosity and creativity, for people of all ages but especially children and young people; sustainability; and gender equality. Audiences will be able to experience and explore this cultural connection through an extensive programme of music, dance, theatre, literature, spoken word, design, visual art, talks & debates, fashion and food.

Collision 2017 will consist of a group of 11 partnerships with 22 artists in total, and every one of these exchanges will be given the support necessary to ensure an enjoyable and meaningful journey.

The aim is to spark unusual and surprising ideas, seeding future projects and leading to exciting new collaborations and processes.

Collision offers space and time in the centre of London for artists to work in a focussed way, free from everyday pressures and with the support of key Southbank Centre staff and in the wider artistic community.

Each day will kick off with breakfast all together, followed by morning and afternoon workshop sessions allowing time for the pairs to work alone or collaboratively with the wider group. Artist pairings will be allocated individual spaces in which to work on our festival site.

Throughout the week, each artist is invited to lead a session focused on their creative practice, the area of their collaboration or another topic that is important to them. I will chair these sessions, and the artist leading may also invite guests or speakers to take part.