Pictured: From the performance of 'Zygmunt's Diary by Adrian
Palka
As part of Coventry Peace Festival 2011, Coventry School of Art
and Design is inviting people to 'Shoe Test' - a free live
performance event on Wednesday 16 November at 7.30pm at the Ellen
Terry Theatre, Jordan Well - featuring the work of three artists on
the staff at Coventry University.
Adrian Palka, George Saxon and Tom Williams have all produced
works inspired by their parents' war stories. Performances include
'Shelter', an electronic multi-speaker musical evocation of the
Blitz in Plymouth; 'Zygmunt's Diary', a sound performance based on
wartime diaries from the Soviet Gulag; and 'Shoe Test #2', a video
installation exploring the extreme endurance of forced labour at
Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
The 'test' itself was a forced, day-long march of 40 kilometres,
where George Saxon's father was made to run the gauntlet on the
circuit of the notorious 'shoe testing track', as part of a
punishment unit. Designed cynically to examine the durability of
various types of materials for military footwear, he was forced to
carry a pack of bricks, 30 kilos in weight, for the duration of
this interminable trudge.
Coventry University Senior Lecturer in Design and Digital Media,
George Saxon said:
"These performances highlight the response of second generation
artists processing the personal impact of World War Two stories and
the myth surrounding their trauma. As the wartime generation dies
out and their offspring move into seniority, the continuing
resonances of the Second World War artistically expressed offer
insights into its cultural legacy.
"In the context of Coventry's mission as a city of peace and
reconciliation, the question is posed, how do successor
generations, detached from the actual experience which initiated
Coventry's status, address these themes, and what is their current
relevance?"
The content of each performance focuses on expressing the
traumatic aspects of the wartime experience and its impact on
successor generations.
Adrian Palka, Coventry University Senior Lecturer in Performing
Arts said:
"In my generation, our parents' stories of war made us who we
are. I use experimental steel instruments and electronics to try
and move those stories on artistically. The steel cello in
'Zygmunt's Diary' uses the cold industrial materials of warfare and
sets them into a painful song - swords into ploughshares I
suppose."
Following the show there will be a panel discussion lead by
Professor Andrew Rigby, looking at Coventry's role as City of Peace
and Reconciliation, and the impact on current generations.
This event is part of Coventry Peace Festival and is supported
by Coventry City Council. More information is available at: www.coventry.gov.uk/peace