Experiments in Happiness (2016)
This one time, I took over an empty building in central Newcastle…
Experiments in Happiness
Experiments in Happiness was a project stemming from my fascination with society's obsession with happiness, wellbeing and all things relating to mood.
It took place in an empty 3 storey building in the centre of Newcastle. An initial wide-ranging research period was undertaken, which included interviews with academic specialists from Psychology, Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Philosophy & History from Newcastle & London, to help me get my bearings on the topic and ground some of the work I would create in sound research.
Halfway into my R&D, with the help of The Empty Space (Newcastle) I met seven local artists with varied interests and an enthusiasm for Live Art. We spent a day together exploring the building and getting to know each others’ practices. Four of these artists went on to collaborate with me for the final event: Zoe Murtagh, Lizzie J Klotz, Rosa Postlethwaite and Maria Abbott.
I also collaborated with Northumbria University MA Architecture students to transform the first floor into a playful, social bar/cafe area including playful ways to collect feedback from the audience.
We inhabited the empty townhouse for 31 days, transforming the space from a series of old offices into an experimental art space including a Victorian Phrenologists’s study and Opium Den.
The results of this R&D were shared with the public as a free drop-in event on 19th & 20th May 2017. Saturday evening was part of The Late Shows.
The process of making this body of original work and collaborating with a new artistic community was a total experiment that resulted in 590 attendees and 15 new artistic pieces.
There were various forms of interactive work and pieces utilising installation, interior design, light, visual art but also sound, dance, music and live art. Audience members could travel through the building and experience things on their own in a private room, be part of a group dance class, write a gratitude postcard (that I actually posted) make something to take-away in a crafting space, sit in the mood-altering bar with a mood-enhancing cocktail or listen to a talk in the main communal space - to name a few….
PHOTOS & VIDEO BY VON FOX PROMOTIONS WITH ADDITIONS FROM SEBASTIAN MESSER. MARKETING IMAGE MADE WITH REBECCA PITT
