REALITY ESTATE would not have been possible without the invaluable input of the production and artistic team:
Sandra Hall & Lee Griffiths
Long-time Friction Arts residents, providing core art direction and management for the project.
Artistic Team
A Dutch composer and artist, Merlijn is in charge of creating an original soundtrack to be performed live by choirs during the performance, engaging and immersing the audience in a total sensory experience. Merlijn is well known for large scale participatory projects, having created ‘Long Distance Call’, where musicians and singers from both sides of the divided
George Saxon
An internationally renowned and pioneering digital and video artist, George will create a participatory projection installation in Auchinleck Sqaure. This will be a video reconstruction of a choir and individual vocalists who live in the immediate vicinity of Five Ways.
Virtual Choir becomes an abstracted work, where the recorded performances are re-organised and fragmented to evoke a ghostly audio visual echo in the windows of once inhabited spaces. Only traces of images and whispers of voices reveal themselves in this desolate shopping centre.
Mark Storor
Artist and director Mark Storor specialises in site-specific collaborations. His work “Best Behaviour” was described by The Guardian as “one of the best pieces of theatre this century”. For REALITY ESTATE, he will work with people from local communities to create performance based work to link the journeys of the audience with the choirs.
By collaborating with internationally renowned artists the local emerging artists, performers and residents contributing to REALITY ESTATE have been given a golden opportunity to gain vital experience, knowledge and skills to support their future creative development.
Mike Lewis - Film Editor
Sofie Layton - Designer
David Lawrence - Choir Leader
Jackie Roxborough - Choir Leader
Julian Wilkins - Conductor
Julia Jones - Dance Artist
Katy Bennet - Workshop Leader
Andrew Whittuck - Photographer
Garry Jones - Design Support
Simon Harris - Trombone Co-ordinator
Production Team
Sandra Hall - Artistic Director
Lee Griffiths - Creative Consultant
Noel Dunne and Nicola Shipley - Producers
Emily Malcolm - Operations Co-ordinator
Simon Pickthorne - Production Manager
Sanj Kavanagh, Si Walker, Dennis Hamilton - Core Project Artist Team
Bev Harvey - Website and Volunteer Co-ordinator
Vince Nelson - Documentary Co-ordinator
Our generous thanks to Roy and the team from Auchinleck Square, Kath, Eleanor, Jimmy, Bob, Carol, Iris, Debbie and all the Growth Impact Crew, the Curio City Crew (young people and their families), Sam at Cafe One, Isaura and family, Ian at MCL, Shannon and Tim of "Touchable Stories" in the USA, Daz at Salter’s Cafe, Jan and Angela at Optima, Clare Short MP, and last but by no means least the people of Five Ways Estate and all the people who have made the Curio City Shop such a success.
REALITY ESTATE would not have been possible without its supporters: Birmingham City Council’s Urban Fusion Programme, Arts Council England West Midlands, Edgbaston Constituency and Art On The Edge, Ladywood Constituency, Business Link West Midlands, Calthorpe Estates, Birmingham City Council’s Creative Team and Broadway Plaza.
