Q and A with The Unlimited Dream Company

Lincoln Art Scene asked The Unlimited Dream Company a few questions to find out more!!!

Tell me about the group and the artistic venture? Who and what is involved?

‘The Unlimited Dream Company’ exhibit was part of the Ballard’s Art festival, consisting of six separate exhibits by second year Fine Art students at Lincoln University. The novel by Ballard was what the exhibit was named after; it also became the title of us as a group. We are now The Unlimited Dream Company – Performance Art Collective, consisting of ten artists and one composer.
Originally there were eleven artists and one composer, but only ten artists chose to stay together as a group.
Tessa Allen / Holly Bowler / Jessica Daniels / Steve Dargavel / Becky Gibbs / Kurt Hewson / Elizabeth Penny / Ami Sothcott / Caroline Stoddart / Megan Thomas /The contemporary composer is Adam Coles. (Alex Davis was the eleventh artist, who has now left the group.)

What was the inspiration? What or who have influenced your work?

The exhibit through Lincoln University was the first we have done so far. The performance was choreographed by Megan Thomas, but when together as a group we added and removed things to suit. It was all based on the transformation of the people of Shepperton from human into birds, and the resurrection of the leading man named Blake, who was trapped in the town in a state of Limbo. This began at The Greyfriars and then led into a procession through the streets of Lincoln. There was reference to the Pied Piper in the novel where Blake led the people of Shepperton to the local Church; as a result leading people from The Greyfriars to finish at St Benedict’s was a very important part of the performance. We finished at St Benedict’s amongst our individual pieces. As part of the exhibit we all made an individual piece that was our personal interpretation of the book. All this was located at St Benedict’s.
The music used for the performance was written by Adam Coles. He experimented with sampled sounds made by the performers then pitched them up a few octaves using computer software as well as adding some delay, these sounds were then played live in response to our movements. A backing track was composed with a constant heartbeat, that the composer would then perform the sampled sounds live over it for the performance.
The Venues we chose were due to the reference of a church in Shepperton, it was an important location in the novel, a lot of important things happened there. Using The Greyfriars (a Friary) and St Benedict’s (an old Church) were relevant to the novel and the exhibit; they became a very important part of the performance.

In the project, what methods have you worked in? What is the group’s favourite method you work in?

Performance, this was the main method that brought the group together.
Our individual works consisted of paintings, sculpture, film, photography and performance. These works were our own interpretation of the novel.

How did you combine these methods to work for you all?

The novel was what decided to use a group performance for the exhibit. Megan Thomas was nominated as the choreographer for the performance, but once together as a group we adjusted things to suit.
The whole thing brought us together as a group; we were not very familiar with each other before the exhibit. Through a group performance we have become close, we decided to stay together to continue preforming as The Unlimited Dream Company – Performance Art Collective.

What are the main themes that you explore throughout this project of work? Can you tell me anymore about the project? – Is there more to come from ‘the unlimited dream company’?

The Performance brought us together as a group; but people’s feedback speared us on to decide to continue working together. The group now consists of ten practicing artists and one contemporary composer.
We are currently working on another art performance to take place sometime this year.

To find out more about The Unlimited Dream Company, visit their blog, http://the-unlimited-dream-company.blogspot.co.uk/ or facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Unlimited-Dream-Company/330128050430395?ref=hl
There is also a film of their performance on youtueb, check it out… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_tXHmGBCDs

Lincoln Art Scene thanks The Unlimitied Dream Company for being part of the blog and taking the time to answer questions. We hope to continue to follow them in their future artistic endeavours.