Monday 24 September 2012

Where is Harry?


Show Name: Whatever Happened To Harry?
Artist: Lou Prendergast
Venue: Arches LIVE 2012
Date: Sat 29 Sep 2012 | Slots from 2pm-4.30pm and 7pm-9.30pm (30 mins)£5


Description (from Arches website): 

Step inside the blue Benz. Step back in time. Step into a world of vice and corruption, where the exploits of “Flash Harry” are revealed through the stories of colourful characters all with an insight into the grit and glamour of Glasgow’s former underworld.

Staged inside a car in a lane outside the Arches, this unique installation is set to an original reggae soundtrack – the music of Jamaica, where Harry, the artist’s estranged father, was born and bred.

Lou Prendergast is the winner of the Arches’ Black Box Graduate Visual Art Award 2012. Supported by Ankur Productions.


GKV: How do you feel that your work fits in with the general atmosphere of arches live?
Lou Prendergast: My works fits in because it's a bit experimental with a form that embraces performance alongside other elements such as visual art and music. Not having to define what the work is, allows it to fit with the idea of trying out fresh ideas and new collaborations and taking risks.


GKV: Where does reggae fit into the piece? What made you pick it as the appropriate medium?
The piece is about my father who was Jamaican born and bred; and my uncle, a Rastafarian, is providing both recorded and live reggae music for the show. It's the perfect soundtrack to the narrative.

GKV: Hang on a minute - you are on at the same time as me... I am not sure I want to encourage people to go and listen to cool stories and music in a car when they could be getting bored by a critic moaning about his pathetic life... nevertheless, you are working in an intimate setting... what made you decide on something on this intimate scale?
I thought it would be fun - something a wee bit different for audience. The car also pays homage to the luxury cars my father favoured, adding to the context of the work. I'm not sure how it's going to go - three audience members plus me in a small enclosed space, but we'll soon find out! p.s. My 2pm show is sold out so there's no clash with yours...:)

GKV: I notice that you are the Black Box Winner... do you define yourself as a visual artist - and what makes you want to be part of a festival that is mostly performance?
I could probably call myself an installation artist and my work is often an immersive experience for viewers, a space they have to enter and engage with. This work pushes that further by adding performance through characters and live music. These are new elements for me to play with.


GKV: How naughty was Harry? I hear gangster stories are involved?
No two ways about it; Harry was a bad ass.

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