Warmed Air

Promenade performances on 10th August 2018, 12 noon and 3pm as part of Edinburgh Art Festival at the Anatomical Museum of the University of Edinburgh.

Warmed Air is a site-specific performance for the historic lecture theatre and museum of the Anatomy Department at Edinburgh University. The work explores varying levels of perceiving and experiencing the body from the tangible sensations of our own body and the memories that form the stories of our bodies, to the relationships our bodies have with those of others both alive and dead. Choreography and vocal scores are made in response to the site and take inspiration from the history, form and display of the specimens contained in the anatomy museum.

The project is an interdisciplinary collaboration between Steven Anderson, Laura Bradshaw, John Clark, Laura Gonzalez, Paul Michael Henry and Ruth Pollitt in consultation with the Anatomical Museum Curator Malcolm McCallum and the Anatomy Professor Tom Gillingwater. The work is a development of a Talbot Rice Gallery commission by Steven Anderson in 2015.

This project extends a working relationship between the artists involved, the anatomy department staff and site into an careful approach to an emotionally and ethically complex environment. For each artist the project is a development from previous working themes around the medicalised body. As a group of artists who have worked together through various configurations in performances, festivals and educational contexts, the themes of this project are extending mutual interests into an deeply invested collaborative working process.

Artists’ Talk, 6pm on the 19th November 2018, Fyfe Lecture Theatre, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Review by Tamsin Grainger