DIY: 2010 – Lottie Leedham Contemporary Myth Making

A practical study for artists interested in the folkloric process, whereby real events are transformed into myth and myths are made real.

Guided by Lottie in collaboration with a range of experts, including Scott Wood of SELFs (South East London Folklore Society), Mark Pilkington of Strange Attractor and author of the recently published Mirage Men, and The Circlemakers, a UK based arts collective famous for covertly creating hundreds of the world’s largest and most elaborate crop circles.

The training will begin with notions of research – looking at the skills needed for the uncovering and collecting of stories, myths and characters present or lost in a site, including oral history recording techniques. We will then look at the practical application of this research and the act of ‘re-telling’, ‘re-enacting’ or ‘re-creating’ the stories found.

Other aims will be:
To encourage a sense of play.
To explore the strength of ‘giving people what they want to believe’.
To blur the lines between the real and unreal.
To consider some of ethics implicit in this type of practice – eg issues around exchange, expectation, reliability and authenticity.
To bring together a small group of like-minded artists to undertake & share in this specialist group learning experience.

This opportunity would suit anyone who finds themselves making work in any medium that is shown in a place outside of traditional art spaces, or even of an artistic context.

Dates, times and location(s):
The training will comprise of four sections and will take place in & around South East London.
Saturday & Sunday (daytimes) 11th & 12th September
Saturday & Sunday (daytimes) 25th & 26th September

Application procedure:
Please email a statement about yourself, your practice and how you envisage this training would be useful for you, including any aims you would like to achieve through taking part, tolottie@lottieleedham.co.uk by Friday 16 July 2010.

The artist:
Lottie Leedham often constructs new work from the folklore and rumour she discovers about a site; reshuffling facts and anecdotes to produce imagined possibilities of what could have happened or may have happened in it. She is particularly interested in researching her own community and hometown (South London), and aims to find the magic hiding in the city. She enjoys the playfulness of attempting to attribute a custom, event or object to a period to which it does not normally belong.

Useful links:
SELFs – http://members.multimania.co.uk/skitster/
Mark Pilkington – http://www.strangeattractor.co.uk/
Mirage Men –  http://miragemen.wordpress.com/
The Circlemakers – http://www.circlemakers.org/
Lottie Leedham – http://lottieleedham.co.uk/

This project was a response to the DIY 7 Call for Proposals.