The 2019 Quays Culture Summer Festival is set to be the best ever with genuinely world class performers that mean every day audiences will be dazzled with unique sights, sounds and sensations.
³We¹ve pushed the limits to find artists to make Quays Festival something that visitors will never forget, claimed Programme Producer Jennifer Taylor. The extraordinary talent involved is what makes it so special they are awe-inspiring. Each day is different and not to be missed.
The free four day event starts with the launch of Arboria an epic structure that introduces audiences to a series of sensory worlds within and culminates in a spectacular 200 metre high-wire walk from the Alchemist across the docks to Media City by world famous performer Chris Bulzini.
Arboria
The vast and spectacular luminarium Arboria will be positioned on the MediaCityUK Piazza, and is described as a sculpture people enter to be moved to a sense of wonder at the beauty of light and colour.
Arboria has three main domes, each 8 metres high and dominated by a single colour, red green and blue. Arboria is dedicated to the theme of Œtrees. Each dome bears its own particular stylised leaf motif rendered to fit the underlying shape of a stellated dodecahedron.
Visitors enter via the green dome and then arrive at the first 3-dimensional tree a combination of cones and spheres assembled to form a brightly luminous tree trunk with branches extending above their heads. Three of these tree-like structures triangulate the main dome whose 10 metre high cupola takes its inspiration from the Chapter House of York Minster. Here one can see an interpretation of the original tall Gothic windows and the over-arching columns that culminate in radiant rib vaulting.
Arboria’s sound experience originated in the Ecuadorian Cloud Forest where musician and soundscape ecologist, Alice Eldridge (ecila.org), made recordings for biodiversity monitoring. To the forest and wildlife sounds Alice has added her own piano composition. Arboria covers a space of almost 1,000 square metres filled with astonishing images and wondrous sounds for a sensual total immersion experience. Designed by Architects of Air who have been creating giant, magical experiential spaces that have toured the world since 1992.
Igor and Moreno
Igor Urzelai and Moreno Solinas are two London-based artists making and presenting dance performances across Europe and internationally. They make works about people and what makes us such special animals. Their work is characterised by their interest in the moving body and the immediacy of action as a vehicle for meaning, ideas and desires. Igor and Moreno want to reclaim the role of the theatre as a place for assembly whilst exploring the cathartic properties of live performance. Across all their works they have always tried to create a frame to share their views without dictating a single reading, instead creating space for reflection for the viewer.
At Media City their activity will be focused on solo movement explorations in response to the space they are in. They will be performing spontaneously in the sensory environment of Arboria, creating intimate interventions that audiences will happen across as they enjoy the Quays Festival.
Chris Bullzini
Providing an enthralling finale to Quays Festival 2019 is High Wire Performer Chris Bullzini. At 5.30pm on Sunday 2 June , Chris will set off on a two hundred metre long journey across the water from a tower near The Alchemist restaurant to the safety of Media City.
Using only a pole for balance, Bullzini will amaze audiences with a stunning journey of daring performance upon a single wire suspended high across the dock.
³I need to be ready for all and every possible danger or distraction,² said Chris, who has recently returned from India where he practiced yoga and meditation as part of his preparation. ²We spend a huge amount of time researching each venue. This is a very big event and I need to be totally focussed. Being a high wire walker is a life choice. It is what I am as well as what I do.
Circus Workshops
In the build to Chris Bullzini’s High Wire Walk there will be a series of Circus Workshops. Guests will be able to learn secrets of circus performers and even experience tight wire skills for themselves. Masterminded by Skylight Circus Arts, attendees will be entertained and educated as a range of skills are demonstrated and made freely available, offering a playful invitation to people of all ages and abilities to try something new.
Find out more by visiting: www.quaysculture.com
