The Last Weekend celebrates the exhibition Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life and its connections to Cornish culture with a three-day festival of performances, talks, workshops and more. The event celebrates Barbara Hepworth as a key figure in the local community and delves deeper into intangible Cornish Culture and heritage, shining a light on under-represented and diverse voices in Cornwall.
Programme
Throughout the three-day festival there will be a family activities and pop-up talks in the Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life exhibition and at the Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden and Museum.
RE:VOICE
Performance
Saturday 29 April at 14.00 and 16.00
Sunday 30 April at 14.00 and 16.00
Running time: 60mins approx
Gallery 8, Level 2
Join us for RE:VOICE – the world premiere of a new co-created participatory theatre show by Director Agnieszka Blonska, with imPOSSIBLE Producing, Choir leader Victoria Abbott and the Tuesday Night Fun Club.
The performance forms part of a major European project led by Falmouth University exploring cultural traditions in Cornwall and other regions in Europe which asked how living heritage can be made vital and resilient.
In collaboration with St Ives Community Orchard
MESKLA | Brewyon Drudh
Drop-in workshops with Sovay Berriman
Foyle Studio, Level 3
Saturday 29 April at 14.30 - 16.00
Sunday 30 April at 13.00 - 16.00
Monday 1 May at 11.00 - 16.00
MESKLA | Brewyon Drudh (Mussel Gathering | Precious Fragments) is a multi-platform art work that uses sculpture and conversation to explore contemporary Cornish cultural identity and its relationship with heritage, land, and extraction industries, including tourism and mining.
Join artist, Sovay Berriman, for drop-in rubbish sculpture-making and conversation, as part of her MESKLA project. The workshop encourages participants to join open dialogue and articulate their views through art making. Considering the networks, relationships and connections of identity and place.
Look Group Welcome
Saturday 29 April 2023
11.00-14.00
A special event for Look Group members from across Cornwall. Explore the current exhibition Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life, enjoy talks with arts specialists and connect with fellow Look Group members. Light refreshments are provided.
To book or find out more, visit the event page or email look.groups@tate.org.uk
Introduction to Slow Looking
Saturday 29 April at 15.30
Sunday 30 April at 13.30 and 15.30
Monday 1 May at 13.30 and 15.30
Be curious, take a longer look at selected artworks and participate in conversations to generate shared interpretations of them. These light-hearted sessions are inspired by Look Groups, small gatherings of people who get together regularly in their own communities, to talk about art, artists, and ideas.
In Conversation with Sovay Berriman, Agnieszka Blonska and Maria Christofordiou
Foyle Studio
Sunday 30 April at 11.00 - 12.00
Join us for a panel discussion with Sovay Berriman, creator of MESKLA, Agnieszka Blonska, Theatre Director and performer and Director of RE:VOICE and Maria Christofordiou, artist, writer and researcher around the intricacies of making in relation to identity.
This talk will be BSL interpretated.
Pass It On by Florence Browne and A Serpent’s Dance by Lucy Frears
Film screenings (on loop)
St Ives Studio, Level 2
Saturday 29 April at 10.00 - 17.00
Sunday 30 April at 10.00 - 17.00
Monday 1 May at 10.00 - 14.00
Pass It On by Florence Browne
Three young people living in minority European cultures - Cornish (UK), Frisian (Netherlands) and Livonian (Latvia) - celebrate their summers in unique ways. In a globalised world, as the tensions between tradition and the mainstream are stretched ever more tightly, vital, resilient cultures continue to practise old customs in new ways.
Directed & produced by Florence Browne
Featuring - Julija Otomere, Mayte Veenstra, Anthony Bate
Executive Producer - Denzil Monk
Dur: 21 mins
Commissioned by Screen Cornwall and Sound/Image Cinema Lab for the Re:voice project with funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council
A Serpent’s Dance by Lucy Frears
Anyone can grab a hand to join the Serpent’s Dance that links Penzance’s traditions, local people and visitors, the town’s ancient past and its future.
Soundscape & design – Lucy Frears
Picture Editor – Marcus Cook
Original music (at end): MUHLA
Duration: 4.39
Supported by UKRI Research England through Falmouth University
Osses
On display there will be beasts and a banner are from the Glorious Company of the Egyptian House: one of the many guilds that play a role at Penzance’s Montol winter solstice celebration. Martin Cleaver makes new ‘gyptian Osses for his guild each year.
Golowan and Montol were stopped in the 1890s but have now been revived. Both Penzance festivals included guise dancing (disguised or costumed dancing). Tatters (strips of cloth) make up a part of the Oss costumes and are worn by many participants.
King for a Day by Barbara Santi
Film screening
St Ives Studio, Level 2
Monday 1 May at 15.00 - 16.00
Duration: 60mins approx
This is free but ticketed event. Visit the event page to book a ticket
King for a Day is a poetic archive-led documentary immersing us in the personal story of the people of Padstow, their ancient rituals and the challenges they face in a rapidly changing world. The tension between tradition and progress punctuates the significance of cultural identity and the relevance of folk customs in our globalised society. Will this be the last generation to tease the ‘Old Oss’ from his stable to welcome the Summer?
King for a Day is a story about friendship, hope, celebration and unity.
Funded by Heritage Lottery, Arts Council England, UK Film Council, Feast Cornwall, and Cultivator Cornwall. King for a Day is being distributed by the distinguished DER in the USA, who champion underrepresented voices, and inspires understanding about people, cultures, and identities of the world.
