CONSTELLATIONS
CONCEPT + CURATION: BRETT BAILEY
MANAGEMENT: BARBARA MATHERS
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'Rings of enlightenment with (im)perfect strangers around communal campfires...'
Invite Brett & Barbara to your
festival to work with a local team
and a diverse selection of African
artists and artists from your country
to stage a unique iteration of CONSTELLATIONS in
beautiful natural surroundings.
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A compelling outdoor, after-dark perambulatory performance that emerged as a response to the social-distancing requirements of the pandemic: the need for people to engage with live performance and a work opportunity for those who depend on live performance for their livelihoods. Post-pandemic, the event has evolved into a platform for ‘underground’ and non-mainstream performers: the 2022 iteration focussed on ‘Women in their Power’; and in 2023, the event was titled 'the Garden of Good and Evil', inviting 8 musicians and performance artists to channel their darker sides.
During the event, small groups of 10-12 spectators are led by guides on trails through the wilderness to a sequence of 4 campfires. Each fire is presided over by a Guardian who hosts a 20-minute session: a performing artist for example, or a poet; a musician or a thinker. There are 2 or 3 such trails, each curated by Brett to make for a diverse and varied experience for spectators.
Every Guardian hosts 4 different groups each night, without the use of any technology: they merely have a campfire, a scattering of paraffin lamps and their props or instruments.
Spectators have no idea which Guardians they will encounter on their journey: every Campfire reveals a new surprise. They enjoy a live, rich and memorable evening in nature; and the Guardians get to have an intimate, powerful, validating and challenging experience… as well as some income.
TOURING HISTORY 2022: 3 nights of CONSTELLATIONS presented in a forest in Shizuoka, Japan, with 9 local performers, working with a Japanese team to actualize the project. 2020 – 2024: an annual 3 week-long event on the Spier Estate, Stellenbosch, South Africa.