Participants wanted for Acts of Memory on 31st March 2012, Birmingham

INVITATION TO TAKE PART in a VIVID & Fierce co-presented project part of Fierce Festival 2012

Anniversary – an act of memory: solo, collective and multi-lingual recitations from memory of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Monica Ross and Co-Recitors from Birmingham’s communities.

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Are you passionate about Human Rights?

VIVID is inviting people from Birmingham to take part in a collective recitation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with artist Monica Ross. Take this chance to learn a small part of the Declaration of Human Rights and recite it in public, in your own language, as part of this unique performance. Everyone is welcome and we hope that the recitation will fully reflect the many voices and languages of Birmingham’s communities.

We wish to include many speakers and are interested in hearing Articles from the Declaration memorised and recited in many different languages including British Sign Language.

Anniversary ? an act of memory is a performance series in 60 acts focusing on the importance and relevance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

Monica Ross challenged herself to learn the Declaration of Human Rights by heart, following the shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes in July 2005. She began the Anniversary series in 2008 to mark the 60th anniversary of the UDHR and so far over 30 recitations have taken place in contexts as disparate as The House of Commons, Brighton seafront, a private flat, art galleries, universities and even an opera, and with more than 250 co-recitors of all ages from different communities and professions memorising and publicly reciting articles of significance to them in over 30 languages. Her aim is to achieve at least 60 solo and collective recitations.

The emphasis is not on perfect recall, but on the attempt to remember and the difficulty of fulfilling the Declaration’s call to keep it ‘constantly in mind,’ especially when under pressure.

The UDHR is the world’s most translated document and can be downloaded in over 370 languages from http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Pages/Introduction.aspx

VIVID is inviting all interested participants to attend a screening during the week beginning 16th January 2012. Monica Ross shall also be hosting a workshop with participants in preparation for the recitation.

If you, your group, or organisation would like to take part in this project, please express your interest by contacting Nicola Lowery at VIVID on nicola@vivid.org.uk or 0121 766 7876 by 13th Jan 2012.

You can find out more about Anniversary – an act of memory here www.actsofmemory.net
You can see video from previous collective recitations here: www.youtube.com/actofmemory