Our Workshop History

A Random and Nonsensical Workshop
hosted by Maggie Tran
Herne Hill, London

2007

A workshop that started in my kitchen with some 'egg philosopy' with the choice of being cooked an egg within means - deviled, scrambled, hard-boiled etc. Then was lead by a pick out of a bag 'random and nonsensical' activities, taking place in a variety of spontaneous locations outdoor and indoors. The workshop ended with individual performance devised by a random game derived from random methods, opening up a new space and way to create and show performances.


Random and Nonsensical activity # Pulling the most serious faces one can muster outside Brockwell Park


One of the last individual performances - pounding on chest with spoon with nuts around neck.

Survival Challenge Workshop
hosted by Bryony Hendersen
The Toilet Gallery in Association with Guerrilla Zoo
Kingston, London

2007

Survival Challenge Kingston took a small group of explorers out into Kingston to look at the way other people live and ask questions about how we live. This is a workshop for those who want to challenge both mind and body and surprise themselves with what they are capable of.

Play, Perform, Publish Workshop
hosted by Maggie Tran
In Association with Bookville, The Publishathon Event, Hull Art Lab

2006



As part of the Bookville Publishathon at Hull Art Lab, June 2006, Maggie Tran hosted a workshop that comprised of three sections, over three days -

1. Play - Exploring different types of performances with spontaneous activities to free up space for creativity, stop thinking, start doing, splurge and see what comes out.

2. Perform
A journey throughout the city of Hull the possibilities and ways of making performance in different types of spaces From trying out performances in an tent at Hull Art Lab and whilst live streamed on a monitor outside of it, to exploring 'exhibitionism' in a park and making interventions in a private home.

3. Publish
A chance to take an performance idea developed from the workshop or ones' own performance project, to hone down on it and to publish it. Participants were assisted as much as possible to actualise piece (documentation, the marketing of their work etc). Artist Jo Ray for example used Hull Art Lab as a workspace and created 'Hides' to take around the city, to observe people from and to take down notes. A piece she carried on developing after the Publishathon was finished.

Storytelling Workshop: Five Stories
hosted by Bryony Hendersen
Witte de With/TENT Rotterdam

2006



A philosopher, three artists, three foreign exchange students, a publisher, an insurance broker, a school principal, a business consultant, a politician, a magazine editor, a theatre maker, an architect and one redundant life coach having the time of his life, came together to explore different ways of storytelling.

Floris from Kaospilot School in Utrecht worked as a storyteller for businesses and They asked us to form our own question. A genuine question. They then offered us 8 questions to make our own stories that would answer this question.

For more info click on this link http://putmedown.com/94/stories/1.htm

The Beginnings....
Me (Maggie Tran), Bryony Hendersen and Workshops

2005

Me and Bryony randomly met in Rotterdam, she was doing an MA exchange at the Piet Zwart, I was just living and working there as an artist. We were already working/planning on experimental workshops individually. Bryony hosted one at the Witte de With and Tent gallery. A storytelling workshop that was lead by 5 different people from a politician to a businessman. I was soon to be doing one back in England, Hull called Play, Perform and Publish as part of the Bookville Publishathon, a workshop to explore different ways of publishing performance.

A period of time later B having returned to Devon, England, and me having a holiday down that way. I stayed in her caravan home in Devon and told her about the PPP workshop. She warmed to it immediately and dialogue begun about the possibility of working together in doing workshops. This carried on to and fro for 2 years via email, I returned from Holland, B moved to Brighton and then finally I moved down south to London.

During this time I pondered what I had gotten out of the PPP workshop but could not quite put my finger on what drew me to this workshop format. Then Bryony hosted another workshop which I also attended in Kingston called Survival Challenge. At the end of this as well experiencing an unfamiliar place in a very interesting and revealing way, I felt I had actually made a piece of work - a performance. I continued our dialogue about workshops via hosting one myself in which Bryony also attended - the Random and Nonsensical workshop. More avenues and ways of making performances revealed itself and it became more and more apparent for me and Bryony the potentials of workshops as not just a space for learning and skill obtaining but as a tool to communicate ideas and become integral working processes in art-making and are even pieces of work in themselves.