Phil Babot, André Stitt & Simon Whitehead

Thu 24 January 2008
Space Workshop, Cardiff School of Art and Design

Photo: Tim Freeman

The contemporary performance art scene in Wales is one of the most active anywhere in the UK. Over the past few years a number of artist-run spaces and networks have developed which support this scene: trace: installaction artspace and tactileBOSCH (Cardiff), Coed Hills Rural Artspace (Cowbridge), ointment collective (Pembrokeshire), Real Institute (Llanrwst), Blaengar (Aberystwyth) and the Wales-wide Second Wednesday Group contribute to the current diversity and vibrancy of Welsh performance. If one aspect unites them, it is a shared concern with the place(s) of performance, its physical, geographic and social location.

Three of Wales's most prolific contemporary performance artists, Phil Babot, André Stitt and Simon Whitehead, were in conversation about the contemporary performance art scene, the role of artist-run spaces and networks and the significance of place in performance.

As a creator of 'live occurrences', Phil Babot is affiliated with a number of artist-run spaces in Wales, including trace:, tactileBOSCH and Coed Hills. Belfast-born André Stitt is considered one of Europe's formost performance artists. A professor at Cardiff School of Art, he founded trace: installaction artspace in 2000. Movement artist Simon Whitehead has developed a body of performance work based on pedestrian practices from his base in rural Wales. He is a founding member of ointment.

Simon Whitehead, Tableland, 1999. Photo: Martin Roberts.