Artists invited to submit ideas for Street LAB commissions

Exeter Phoenix and Blind Ditch are offering two £1,000 commissions to develop itinerant new work for new project Street LAB, a micro-festival of live art busking hitting the streets of the city during Art Week Exeter (13 – 21 May 2017).

The festival organisers are looking for entertaining and politically engaged concepts that bring audiences in public sites into lively encounters with contemporary live art practice with a musical twist.

Street music is at the heart of historical debates around taste, place and disruption; often described as being democratic and open to anyone, particularly those with limited means.

Live Art also engages with the forms and the politics of the margins, offering a haven to artists whose practice does not necessarily comply with the strictures of the traditional.

Street LAB looks to mix up these genres, by commissioning two artists or artist groups to create performances combining street music and live art.

Each selected artist will receive a £1000 fee and £300 of expenses to develop projects for Exeter street audiences that are accessible and challenging, provocative and generous.

The selected artists will be able to bring their work to life at a range of public sitesaround Exeter, from retail centres to busy street corners, during Art Week Exeter this May.

Alongside these new commissions internationally acclaimed Berlin artists Princessin Hans will be bringing The Song Dispensary to Exeter - a place for audience members to order and pick up prescription songs, written live and exclusively for them.

Anyone interested can apply via the online form at www.exeterphoenix.org.uk/street-lab-live-art-busking-commissions

Deadline for applications is Fri 31 March.