‘A Soft Rebellion in Paradise’ – SHU lecturer seeking 500 volunteers for film project

The blurb below is for a new film being produced by visual artist Chloë brown who is a senior lecturer in fine art at SHU. 500 women are needed to take part in a day of filming, find more details and a link to register your interest below.

Visual artist and senior lecturer at SHU Chloë Brown is making an exciting new film ‘A Soft Rebellion in Paradise’as part of the Making Ways arts programme. The film will be gifted to the city on completion and all she needs is 500 women to take part in the filming on Sunday 2nd September  – ‘A Soft Rebellion in Paradise’ reflects on the history of the city as a place of political activism and will look in particular to highlight the voices of women that are so often lost in the retelling of histories around the world.

In recent years Chloë has been working on a series of what she terms ‘Soft Rebellions’ in post-industrial cities, first in Stoke-on-Trent, then in Detroit and now in Sheffield. These take the form of a film or an event posing the question: ‘what happens when the economic engines of a city slow down but the people don’t?’ So far these ‘Soft Rebellions’ have involved dancing, eating, meeting and applauding in places where it is unusual to do so.

At the core of this new film is a large gathering of women (up to 500) in Paradise Square who will be filmed doing a number of ‘Soft Rebellions’, women attending the shoot will be asked to:

  • Be silent for a period of time, a reference to the Chartists’ silent protests held in Paradise Square in 1839.
  • Applaud in a particular way (The Wigan Clap – the applause used by Northern Soul audiences at Wigan Casino in the 1970’s – This came out of a conversation in Detroit with Motown icon Martha Reeves).
  • Perform a poem written by Sheffield-based poet Geraldine Monk that is part song, part chant and part incantation (featuring a very special international performer).

Filming (by an all-female crew) will take place on Sunday 2nd September 2018 and we invite anyone identifying as a woman (over age of 16) to join us on the day.

When: 10:00 – 14:00, Sunday 2nd Sept 2018

Where: Paradise Square, Sheffield, S1 2DE

 

To get more info and to register your interest please sign up by following this link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-soft-rebellion-tickets-48391898471