documentation

undeveloped grew out of an interest in the physicality of documentation and archives. In our previous activist work, we have explored how you embody and work with archival material in pursuit of liberation. We are great admirers of the work of various radical museums and live art archives around Britain and the world. Documentation of performance work is a double-edged sword, necessary for securing funding and archiving work, but ultimately running counter to the liveness and the fragility of the encounter between audience and performer. 

In undeveloped, we host a space where the artist can feel truly free to try and fail, to experiment and take risks, secure in the knowledge that this brief flickering of connection will not be suspended in time to be examined or judged by those who come after.

The disposable cameras, alongside our collection of ephemera (sketches, polaroids,  notes, props, etc), are all that survive the performance. It serves as a metaphor for the audience member - A machine which captures images but which cannot transmit them with the exactitude of modern technology. The images live inside of it, the way all images live inside a body.

Over the years, as the camera is held in our collection, the film inside it will slowly degrade, becoming impossible to recover, and entering oblivion. The loss of these memories over time emphasises the transitory nature of live performance encounters. As the images fade in the memory of the artists and audience members who were there, so too do they fade in the camera. 

However, the physical object of the camera in our collection will remain preserved. This is what we mean when we think about the physicality of documentation and archives. By keeping an archive of physical objects, we can use the archaeological nature of archives to present our work in future. Each camera is labelled, and when encountered as an object in a gallery, it conjures up imagined images of it being used, of what it may have captured, of what it may have encountered. The haunting and haunted nature of physical objects allows a far more embodied and sensual encounter with a performance archive than digital documentation or text alone allows.

artist development & curation

We are deeply committed to artist development. It’s at the core of our practice as curators and producers. We know how difficult and demoralising the state of the arts is for emerging artists. We know how hard it is to create in the face of endless dehumanisation and oppression. Creating small oases for creativity and rest is a radical practice. By giving artists space to experiment, to discuss their practice, to engage with one another’s work, we hope we allow them to rebuild their confidence and stretch into new forms and styles of making. 

We are also interested in the intimacy of encounter-based performance. Fifteen years ago there was an explosion of one-to-one performance, which has subsided greatly with the cuts to funding and changes in live art culture. We want to be part of a movement to revitalise the one-to-one and encounter-based forms by challenging our artists to make work for small groups in unconventional spaces, outside of the normal theatre, gallery,  or cabaret settings. 

Supporting artists to grow is one of the most rewarding parts of our work, and it is something we hope to pursue throughout our careers. If you are looking for producers or curators to work with you on your artist development programmes, please get in touch with us.