Hello everyone,
The sun is shining, the Olympics have started, Edinburgh is full of people, everything smells of 80% recycled paper and perplexed enthusiasm. We are little bit over-hot but largely delighted.
PAPER STAGES (Edinburgh, 11-26 August)
If you’re already in Edinburgh you will have noticed the Forest Cafe-shaped gap on Bristo Place where Forest Fringe used to happen each summer. I hope you maybe had a moment of sadness and perhaps a fond memory of something absolutely stupid that once happened there.
Not to worry however as we are actually in Edinburgh this year. Just not in the manner you might be used to. We’re creating something called Paper Stages a beautiful book of projects by over twenty artists including Tim Etchells, Nic Green and Kim Noble. It’s a quite remarkable thing, with event scores, scripts, recipes, musical compositions, audio walks, sun dials, maps and bank accounts gathered in its pages.
Better yet, this book (as always with Forest Fringe in Edinburgh) is completely free, all you need to do to get your hands on a copy is volunteer an hour of your time to help somebody else. To do your hour and get a copy of the book you need to go to the brilliant Hunt & Darton Cafe on St Mary’s Street, just round the corner from the Pleasance. We’ll be there from the 11th right to the end of the Festival.
And, if you’re around on Saturday 11th August itself we’ll be throwing a very special launch party for Paper Stages. Come to the Hunt & Darton Cafe from 5pm for drinks and to get a copy of the book, and then from 7pm we’ll be travelling to a secret location for ART/House a night of Forest Fringe delights featuring TORYCORE, Chris Thorpe, Dan Bye, video work by Scottee and many more delights that we can’t begin to tell you about yet. It’s not to be missed.
WHAT’S NOT THERE (Norfolk, 14 August – 2 September)
As all attention turns to London and Edinburgh we thought it might be the perfect time to head out somewhere else entirely, into the rural Norfolk countryside for a remarkable new residency programme created in collaboration with Norfolk and Norwich Festival as part of Robert Wilson’s remarkable Walking.
Walking is series of awe-inspiring sculptural installations punctuating a three mile path on the Holkham Estate. Participants will be offered the once in a lifetime opportunity to experience a series of magnificent sculptural and sound installations, viewing this stunning landscape from a fresh perspective while escaping the pressures of day to day life.
A group of eight Forest Fringe artists including poets, dancers, musicians and live artists will be spending three weeks working around this project thinking about landscape, time and the countryside, whilst meeting a range of fascinating guests including Robert Wilson himself. We hope it’ll be beautiful experience and perhaps the beginning of many new rural adventures for Forest Fringe.
AND BEYOND…
We’re also looking forwards already to some exciting projects once this brilliantly exhausting summer is finally over.
First up we’re delighted to announce that, after the success of this year’s inaugural residency, in the Spring we’ll once again be teaming up with the Gate Theatre in Notting Hill for some London-based Forest Fringe. More details of when that will be and who will be involved will arrive in the Autumn.
And before that this winter you can look forward to seeing Forest Fringe arrive in Dublin for the very first time as part of our International Microfestivals programme. Once again, look forward to more about that in the Autumn.
All in all, it’s despite our absence from our familiar Edinburgh home it’s a breathless and exciting summer with more to look forward to beyond that. We hope you’ll be able to join us for as much of it as possible.
Have a lovely summer.
PS.
If you’re in Toronto over the summer, be sure to check out the first ever Live Art Series at the brilliant Summerworks Festival, curated by our very own Deborah Pearson. Deborah also has a show of her own on in Toronto, The Queen West Project, a beautiful and ambitious piece taking place on the streets of the city. Not to worry though, Toronto doesn’t get to keep Debbie. She’ll be back in the UK and back with Forest Fringe from September. We look forward to welcoming her home.