Anniversary — an act of memory
solo, collective and multi-lingual recitations from memory of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Monica Ross and Co-Recitors
The most recent recitation, ACT 40 marked a significant milestone in the aim to reach 60 recitations. ACT 40 took place at Arnolfini Bristol on 17 February 2012 with 27 Co-Recitors who memorised Articles in Amharic, Arabic, British Sign Language, Dinka, English, Farsi, French, German, Irish Gaelige, Italian, Kurdish, Norwegian, Punjabi, Romanian and Spanish - to find out more please visit the Co-Recitors page here or go to there’sleadinmypencil to read a great blog entry about the recitation.
UPCOMING… Act 41 Co-presented by VIVID and Fierce Festival 2012. Both Events Are Free
VIVID and Fierce are inviting people in Birmingham to take part in a collective and multi-lingual recitation on Saturday 17th March in the grounds of Birmingham Cathedral. We want to include as many people as possible and Articles in all the languages of Birmingham’s communities including BSL. All Welcome. For more details and if you, your group or organisaton would like to take part please contact:
Nicola Lowery, 0121 766 7876 nicola@vivid.org.uk , come to the talk on 17th March or visit the Co-Recitors page here
Act 41 INTRODUCTORY TALK
2.00pm, Saturday 17 March, VIVID 140 Heath Mill Lane | Birmingham | B9 4AR
Monica Ross will give a talk about the Anniversary— an act of memory series and work through a plan for presenting Act 41 with anyone who wants to take part. All Welcome
ACT 41 COLLECTIVE RECITATION
2.30pm, Saturday 31 March, grounds of Birmingham Cathedral
Anniversary ― an act of memory is a performance series in 60 acts focusing on the importance and relevance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and features solo, collective and multi-lingual recitations from memory of the entire UDHR by Monica Ross and Co-recitors.
First performed solo by Ross to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Declaration in 2008, to date more than 500 Co-Recitors of all ages from different communities have memorised and publicly recited articles of significance to them in more than 40 languages including Act 36, a recitation primarily in British Sign Language, at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Wunderbar Festival 2011. The UK Tour 2011-2013 began in May 2011, marking a new phase of the project aimed at taking Acts 31-60 to different contexts throughout the UK from May 2011 – 2013, beginning with Act 31, a collective recitation in Queens Park, Brighton for Brighton Festival 2011.
Acts 01–40 have taken place in a range of cultural and social contexts, including collective recitations at Arnolfini, Bristol; New Schoolhouse Gallery,York; Sheffield Town Hall with Sheffield Socialist Choir and Site Gallery, Sheffield; Scarborough Library with Crescent Arts, Scarborough; Platforma’s Counterpoint Exhibition, Rochelle School, London; Swiss Cottage Library Gallery, London; Lanternhouse and Barrow Multi-Cultural Centre, Cumbria; London School of Economics; Brighton Seafront; Beaconsfield, London; Free Word, London; Kings Chapel, UCL, with LCACE, London; and in Galway Museum Square, Galway. Solo recitations have taken place in aWar Crimes Conference, The British Institute of Human Rights Conference 2009 and in Mikhail Karikis’s Xenon:an exploded opera in venues including Kings Place Theatre, London and the Whitstable Biennale 2010; excerpts are included in the film Xenon by Mikhail Karikis and David Bickerstaff, 2011; and a specific Act of Memory for the Launch of Brighton Festival 2011 was presented with Brighton Festival Choir at the Dome Theatre, Brighton 2011. Full List
Each collective recitation is shaped by the producers and co-recitors who deliver it. While the text and its aspirations remain the same, the different voices reciting in different languages make each performance specific to its context and community; nuanced, inflected and impassioned by the individuals who commit themselves to reciting the Articles from memory. The artist and co-recitors draw on oral traditions where memorisation and spoken repetition produce an embodied form of reproduction which is at once an act of witness and one of taking responsibility for the transmission of knowledge. The emphasis is not on perfect recall but on the attempt to remember and the difficulty of fulfilling the Declaration’s call to keep it constantly in mind especially when under pressure.
The essence of Anniversary — an act of memory is on performance as a live and generative medium. Every recitation is recorded using photography and video, edited in consultation with the co-recitors and posted on you tube as an open archive www.youtube.com/actofmemory
Anniversary — an act of memory UK Tour 2011-2013 is produced by Michelle Hirschhorn.
We are still looking for partners to produce Acts 42-60 with us. If you would like to take part and propose a possibility for producing a recitation it would be great to hear from you. Please contact producer@actsofmemory.net to discuss ideas with us.
- images from Acts 01-28 ( 2008-2010) photos: Alex Delfanne, Bernard G Mills, Joel Chester Fildes, Georges Torode
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948. The world’s most translated document it is available in over 380 languages, Plain English and Signed Versions.
Anniversary — an act of memory is endorsed by Amnesty International UK and the British Institute of Human Rights
Anniversary — an act of memory UK Tour 2011-2013 is supported by Arts Council England