The Trash Culture Revue, 16 - 20 June, Cork

cork | arts and media | press release Monday May 24, 2010 15:21 by mutantspace - mutantspace.ie admin at mutantspace dot ie

A gift economy festival

The Trash Culture Revue will be held from Wednesday 16 - Sunday 20 June, in Cork and will be run through mutantspace.ie, an Irish online arts resource that’s run on the gift economy principle. With over 500 members across the country and over 1500 skills in its resource bank mutantspace.ie is the largest independent resource of its kind in the country and is in the perfect position to provide free practical support to the development and production of this Revue. It is this alternative production system that lies at the heart of The Trash Culture Revue. It is this freedom to create that allows us to give people a new space in which to experiment, fail, make and play no matter who they are, where they are, what they do or when they do it.

Trash Culture Revue, 16 - 20 June, Cork

The Trash Culture Revue will be held from Wednesday 16 - Sunday 20 June, in Cork and will be run through mutantspace.ie, an Irish online arts resource that’s run on the gift economy principle. With over 500 members across the country and over 1500 skills in its resource bank mutantspace.ie is the largest independent resource of its kind in the country and is in the perfect position to provide free practical support to the development and production of this Revue. It is this alternative production system that lies at the heart of The Trash Culture Revue. It is this freedom to create that allows us to give people a new space in which to experiment, fail, make and play no matter who they are, where they are, what they do or when they do it.

This Revue is also about autonomy and no compromise and in order to reinforce that we will be running the entire programme on no money. Instead we will be using our own collective skills and resources in place of monetary exchange.
This revue is taking a stand. This Revue wants to take positive action and show that through co-operation we can create a viable creative economy, a real alternative to the current economic arts structure that is based on state funding bodies, local authorities, bureaucracy and red tape.

Members of mutantspace will be working on all aspects of the production, programming, management and PR of the Revue. Designers, promoters, venue owners, drivers, sound engineers, volunteers, etc are giving their time for free and in doing so will create a unique atmosphere, a community of people who want to make things happen in their area, want to participate, want to see things change. And this is only the beginning. We hope to see The Revue travel around the country and work with mutantspace members in all 32 counties.

Over the last 3 months we have left the door open to everyone with an idea, a show, an exhibition, film, dance, song and we have been delighted to receive such varied, interesting and exciting submissions.

As a flavour of what to expect during The Trash Culture Revue we’ll be kicking off with our own celebration of Bloomsday on Wednesday 16th June where we’ll be hosting an evening of music, readings, eating gorgonzola, kidneys and drinking wine.

Another highlight will be the appearance of Irish Grand Slam Poet Champion 2009, Stephen James Smith performing in Cork. He currently runs The Glor Sessions in Dublin and has performed in London, Amsterdam, New York as well as Universities in NYC, Boston, and Washington D.C.
His poetry is included on an American University Syllabus (along with Tupac!) and he’s recently been involved with lectures to professors and students on a number of creative writing classes including in an Irish Literary course for his recitals of Yeats Poetry

Punk poet, Jinx Lennon will be using his words, electro beats, a six string and bullhorn to expose his cracked mirror view of Hibernia and society in general, drawing the audience into his world like a drowsy insect into the mouth of a flesh eating plant

We’re delighted to be hosting an open workshop called Better Questions an initiative that emerged out of conversations between people engaged in either social movement practices and/or thought on radical social change.
We’ll also be running a short film competition, a story slam, a number of gigs, film screenings, performance art installations, readings, lunchtime theatre events and a cowpunk bbq on the final day with some of Corks best known musicians doing country classics in their own inimitable way.

The Trash Culture Revue is not just about the performers, it is about the collective will that comes from a shared idea. It is about everyone getting stuck in from the performer to the ticket collector, the producer to the venue owner. This Revue wants to show people that by working together we can create a new space that promotes and encourages artistic endeavour. A space that is not subject to commercial or bureaucratic pressures. A space that defies the generic nature of festivals around our country.

For more information on all our acts go to:
http://themutation.com/the-trash-culture-revue
http://www.facebook.com/trashculturerevue
For more information on mutantspace.ie arts resource and gift economies go to:
http://www.mutantspace.ie