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
COMING UP
A Collective Recitation
3.00pm Monday 04 June
REDBRIDGE GREEN FAIR
Melbourne Field, southern end of Valentines Park
Ilford, Essex 1G1 4SD / streetmap
www.rgf.org.uk
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The Green Fair are looking for 30 individuals or groups to contribute to reciting the 30 Articles of the UN Declaration of Human Rights from memory – any language is welcome – just learn one Article in the language of your choice. Can be done by individuals or a group together. The same Article can be spoken by more than one person – especially if it is different languages. Please contact us if you would like to take part in this event at the Green Fair. Choose an Article relevant to you or your community group and let Redbridge hear you recite it and be part of an international film and movement!
TO TAKE PART PLEASE CONTACT THE GREEN FAIR ORGANISERS DIRECTLY: redbridgegreenfair@gmail.
Recent recitations include Act 42 , MAY DAY… MAY DAY …. live streaming of a solo recitation, 01.05.2012: Act 41 , grounds of Birmingham Cathedral co-presented by VIVID and FIERCE 31.03.2012; Act 40, Arnolfini, Bristol 17.02.2012; and Act 39 a solo recitation New Schoolhouse Gallery York 19.01.2012
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 01–41 have taken place in a range of cultural and social contexts, including collective recitations in the grounds of Birmingham Cathedral, Arnolfini, Bristol; 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 at the New Schoolhouse Gallery, York ,a SOLON War 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
