In Between Time presents: IBT Wildness

Following the success of expanded festival IBT21 The Rupture, which took place over eight months both in real and digital spaces, live art producers In Between Time are back with the brand new weekend programme IBT Wildness.

The work has been made in response to the climate emergency, and encompasses dance, visual and performance art, forest diving, workshops and community gatherings.

Comprised of three key events celebrating the wildness that exists in, and outside of ourselves, the event is an invitation for “audiences, visitors and participants into the forest, both literally and metaphorically”.

In producing the event, IBT Wildness is working in collaboration with Perform Europe, helping to ensure that artworks can be produced and shared in sustainable ways; from travelling by train and boat, to working without power and with recycled materials.

Bristol24/7 takes a look at what’s in store on June 17-19.

Clarice Lima: WOODS – June 17-18

WOODS is a giant, human installation fusing dance, performance and visual art. Envisioned as “an artistic call for environmental awareness”, the mass public art piece has been travelling across Europe and will arrive in Bristol as the opening strand of IBT Wildness.

Devised by Brazilian choreographer, director and visual artist Clarice Lima and her creative team, WOODS was inspired by the catastrophic loss of the Brazilian rainforest. The piece aims to find ways in which human bodies can “resist, persist and grow amongst urban concrete”, reflecting at once the power and fragility of a forest environment.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CdVFbEvuuHj/

The group will be joined by 40 local volunteers in becoming a temporary physical forest in the midst of Bristol’s shopping district; performers turning upside down by doing headstands, and allowing their generous skirts – made from metres of recycled material – to billow over them as their legs reach skyward.

Highlighting climate change and the urgency of ecosystem preservation, these metaphorical trees are a signifier of “missing trees and forgotten woods”.

WOODS is in Broadmead on June 17 at 3.30pm, and June 18 at 12pm and 2pm. The performance is 30 minutes long, and is free to attend.

The project is currently calling for a diverse group of dance and headstand enthusiasts to take part. Participants will need to be able to do a headstand and be present on June 15-16 for the workshops, and then 17-18 for the performances. Places will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis. For more details on how to apply, visit www.inbetweentime.co.uk.

Instant Dissidence: SlowMo – June 18

Made up of artists and activists with a goal of living, travelling and working sustainably, Instant Dissidence are a collective with climate change activism at their heart. As a result, their journey towards Bristol has been slow and sweeping, taking in Sweden, Denmark and France and gathering stories of people encountered on the way.

Now, these stories have been turned into ‘choreographic postcards’, set to be gifted to the streets of Bristol as dances for onlookers to enjoy.

SlowMo is a creative response to climate emergency, forging opportunities for connection that doesn’t result in environmental harm.

Ahead of the weekend, there is also an Instant Dissidence dance workshop taking place, suitable for all abilities, though some dance experience may be preferable. Participants are asked to bring a short, hand-written personal story about a place you have lived in the past, or a place you have visited (anywhere other than Bristol).

SlowMo is on June 18 at 11.30am, 12.30pm, 2.30pm, 3.30pm and 4.30pm. Tickets are pay what you can, bookable in advance. Attendees are instructed to meet outside Tesco Broadmead.

The dance workshop takes place at Trinity Centre on June 16, from 6-8pm. All workshop tickets are pay what you can.

Instant Dissidence – SlowMo, part of IBT Wildness – photo: Jemma Stein

Sylvia Rimat: Some People Climb Up – June 18-19

German-born, Bristol-based artist Sylvia Rimat has made work across multiple media, from one-on-one performance to site-specific work and digital creations. Her artistic preoccupations often deal with the human psyche, consicousness and memory, and its relationship to the natural sphere.

Her work has been shown internationally, from SPILL Festival at the Barbican to the Sydney Festival in Australia. Playful but thought-provoking as an artist, Rimat often includes elements of audience interaction in her projects.

Delivered via smartphone and headphones using a downloaded app, Rimat’s guided audio walk through Leigh Woods is a multisensory experience that manages to connect participants more meaningfully with nature, and with their own humanity.

Led by the artist’s voice, the app “guides us through the forest, off the beaten parth, encouraging us to experience ancient woodland – touching trees, smelling and tasting the forest floor and diving into long-forgotten memories in our own minds”.

For the artist herself, particating in the programme is especially meaningful, in that “IBT Wildness brings together artworks that carve a connection with nature and the earth”.

“My geo-located app Some People Climb Up takes you deep into the forest and into the thicket of your memories using all your senses. I can’t wait to see the other performances on the weekend!”

Some People Climb Up (age recommendation 14+) is in Leigh Woods on June 18 at 10am, 12pm and 2.30pm (duration approx one hour), and on June 19 anytime, unguided. Tickets are pay what you can.

Sylvia Rimat, Some People Climb Up, part of IBT Wildness – photo: Laura Montag

Talking to Bristol24/7, Helen Cole, the Co-CEO and artistic director of IBT explained her excitement about the prospect of IBT Wildness, saying: “I am over the moon to be working alongside some incredible artists and Bristolians on IBT WILDNESS.

“Now more than ever, it feels vital to be highlighting the climate emergency and the importance of the human connection with nature. Through workshops, forest bathing and live performances IBT WILDNESS will bring us a chance to do just that.”

IBT Wildness has been developed in conjunction with Festival of Nature, Trinity Arts and Perform Europe. The programme takes place on June 17-19. For information and tickets to all events, go to www.inbetweentime.co.uk.

Main photo: Clarice Lima: WOODS

Read more: In Between Time launches 9th annual live art festival

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