We’re not sure what this will be yet but Fierce closing parties are usually a messy affair! Meet us in the Festival Hub from 10pm. We suspect Karaoke may be involved. All welcome!

In SIBLINGS the musician and performer Colin Self presents a theatrical fantasy between opera and revue. Conceived as the sixth and final part of Colin Self’s Elation performance series, it stakes out a proliferating meeting space for the alien drags, who advocate empathy for the disintegrated and unidentifiable and negotiate practices of sympathy and caring.

Siblings is included in the Fierce Weekend Pass which can be purchased here.

UK PREMIERE

Fame Prayer / EATING is an attempt to queer spirituality, and a counter point to neo-liberal notions of self care which keep telling us we should be fixing the things that are wrong with us. In this work we examine self help book ideologies and pop culture spiritual texts – instead of using their rules and philosophies as guidelines for living, we engage them as strategies for the body and choreography.

Elevating crap materials into mystical objects, dances and rituals – The work confuses ideas of modern spirituality through the process of consumption – Inviting the public to consider the complications that arise when consumer culture absorbs spiritual practices. A rigorously undisciplined performance created by dance artist Andrew Tay, visual and performance artist François Lalumière (Montreal), and photographer and performance artist Katrzyna Szugajew (Poland), Fame Prayer / EATING is a queer space of worship, a critique of healing culture, and a transgressive and disorientating performance for the audience to engage with.

Andrey Tay, François Lalumière & Katrzyna Szugajew – Fame Prayer/ EATING from Studio 303 on Vimeo.

Created and performed by: Andrew Tay, François Lalumière, Katrzyna Szugajew.
In collaboration with ELAN, supported by Canada Council for the Arts and co-curated with Studio 303 (Montreal).

This is a drop in event 

Presented with BEDLAM Festival.

What if the depression we endure is not just about biochemical disfunction, but the result of political failure?

Ann Cvetkovich suggests we have incomplete projects of liberation and I tend to agree; decolonisation, feminism, civil rights. We have the wounds of incomplete projects but what if the bandages are on too tight? What if the wounds need cleaning, investigating or maybe the wound just needs to see the light?

I’m Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired examines historical traumas in the everyday felt sensations of our lives. It’s about the domestic and the grand; maybe the depression we feel is the result of being the other for so long? … The energy it has taken to survive, endure, resist and have hope against it all.

This is a drop in event. In collaboration with Birmingham Repertory Theatre’s  The Young Rep

The number of wild animals on earth has halved over the past 40 years.
You cannot commit suicide by holding your breath.
Butterflies taste with their feet.

Children have an insatiable curiosity and hunger for facts – the kind so amazing, it’s hard to believe they’re true. In the interactive installation Crazy But True, children between the ages of 7 and 11 form a rolling panel of ‘experts’. A text is whispered to them via headsets. They repeat what they hear, as they hear it. What comes across seems like a slow-motion internet, hyper-linking from hilarious LOLs to a picture of a darker world that as adults we’re faced with on a daily basis, and for which we’re often collectively responsible.

This simple proposal using minimal resources becomes increasingly addictive, the longer you stay with it. A tender, inter-generational confrontation involving both tragic and comic extremes.

Ant Hampton is known for automated devices (autoteatro) which frame and organise unrehearsed performance situations for the general public.

___

OPEN INVITATION TO CHILDREN (7-11)

Any children accompanying the adult audience will probably check out the situation before deciding whether to have a go. If they do, they’re performing for around 12 minutes; and every 4 minutes there’s a changeover. No rehearsal required. You can come and go as you please.

An Imagine2020 co-production with Rotterdamse Schouwburg, Artsadmin (London), Kaaitheater (Brussels) and Kunstencentrum Vooruit (Ghent).

Fierce Artistic Director Aaron Wright will be in conversation with Lois Keidan, Director of the Live Art Development Agency, London about the 2017 programme and issues raised within. There will also be time for the audience to ask questions about artistic decisions and pieces presented within the festival.

Presented with BEDLAM Festival

How do you distract yourself from negative thoughts? Herbal tea, meditation, booze, bubble baths? Louisa shares her musings away from the therapist’s chair. Watch as she tries to cope, to care and not to disappear. Louisa Robbin is a live artist and writer. A sad girl who projects her feelings on to glitter and gold and a queer black British (African) woman who is forever ticking boxes. Passionate about the alternative, the untraditional and the awkward; Louisa is intent on making art that explores the beauty in ritual, intimacy and the self (self-care, self-harm, self-esteem). Her recent body of work ‘to care’ explores her depression and the desperate need to keep going, keep doing and be more.

Part of the Discover Day at BEDLAM Festival.

Louis Robbin is  Fierce FWD 2017 artist.

Fierce FWD artist Suriya Aisha is working with Fierce to hold two sessions considering access as part of her wider project, Horizontal. Sessions will be held in a closed space at Centrala (a short 2-minute walk from the hub) and will have some light refreshments available and some music. They are an informal space for groups to meet up, share and reflect on their experiences of the festival. No need to book, just turn up on the day.

10.30am – 12pm – Disability / Access Discussion

12.30pm – 2.30pm – People of Colour meet-up

(18+)

This is the big one. Over the years our club nights have earned us a hot reputation. Undoubtedly the best line-up in town: join us and throw some shapes on the dancefloor to some of the freshest acts in the world today. BIG looks encouraged; be your best self; come get your life!

Kiddy Smile (FR)

Catapulted into the public consciousness by Beth Ditto, Kiddy Smile seeks to spread the retro love in his beats – all of which he produces, sings and sometimes even raps over himself. Deeply influenced by the sleazy, lazy feel of 80s and 90s house music and the fabulous legacy of the Ballroom scene, he has performed live alongside the likes of Hercules & Love Affair, The Gossip and LCD Soundsystem.

Gnucci (RS)

“I SWEAT ALL OVER MY GNUCCI SUIT AND STILL MANAGE TO LOOK CUTE“

Ana Rab, better known as Gnucci, is an exuberant, eclectic singer who has made a name for herself through the creation of pumping rap and club music. Of Serbian descent, she currently lives in Sweden, and is a one of the new generation of female hip-hop and rap performers on the international scene. Expect rap, bass, and dance music –– but also pop, a complex hybrid style rich in sound. The rapid, energetic pulse of her witty rap hits home, making her live presence magnetic.

Marie-Caroline Hominal (CH)
Silver

I have been wondering and begging for love
I have been sleeping and dreaming of love
Mysterious night coming over and over
Thinking you are my only lover

Silver is a dance and musical performance, a crescendo where Marie-Caroline Hominal brings text, light, smoke and choreography all together for a 30-minute show. Silver is a reflection on the idea of the “show”, what is a “show” and how to present a “show”, but also on how energy, beats and movements affect us personally. UK Premiere!

Imma Asher (US)

Trans performance artist Imma Asher formerly known as IMMA/MESS is a major nightlife personality, trained at the Alvin Ailey School of Dance, they’re one of the most spellbinding performers we’ve ever come across.

LMGM – Room 4 Resistance (DE)

Room 4 Resistance is a Berlin-based queer forward collective focused on community building and creating space & visibility for women, gender queers, non-binaries, trans people, black people & people of colour in Dance Music.

Last entrance at Midnight.

Club Fierce: We Are Fierce is included in the Fierce Weekend Pass which can be purchased here.