Lorraine Smith Arts
Performance Maker
RECENT PROJECTS
PANG & PING
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Lorraine recently worked as collaborator and performer for designer Daphne Karstens' wearable sculpture performance project PANG & PING, which was performed as part of Amsterdam Fringe 2021. This experimental performance is part of the developing performance triptych ‘PANG-PING-PONG’. The project explores the relationship between the human body and celestial bodies, transformations of complex three-dimensional shapes as costume on the body, and experimentation of costume and light.
The first R&D stage of the trilogy was funded by Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie and final completion was developed in residency at Het Huis Utrecht. This project was supported by Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst and Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, with Sponsorship from Beitel Beestje, Kunststofshop & HD-Rent.
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PANG & PING will be performed again as part of World Stage Design 2022 in Calgary, Canada.
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Reviews:
"Special creations that are in between costume design, visual art and architecture...The diptych is a fascinating experience, especially at the visual level. In Pang, the reflective surface reflects the light in all directions; Smith's movements create a dynamic mosaic that evokes the feeling of a cave or an underwater world." Marijn Lems, Theaterkrant
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"Karstens herself calls it a 'wearable sculpture project'. It is in fact a wonderful dance performance, in which Smith is hidden under large triangular sculptures that are draped in various shapes around her body. In the second part, she wears a white costume of cords and tubes from which smoke comes out. She is reminiscent of a humanoid robot. It is man as an intermediate form. Typical Fringe this, theater you didn't know you were waiting for." Vincent Kouters, de Volkskrant
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SECRET LIFE OF STUFF
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This wearable art community project was commissioned as part of Thrift Fest Upcycled 2020. The project explored the transformative nature of everyday manmade materials in relation to the festival theme of sustainability. Lorraine and facilitators Jennifer Essex and Daphne Karstens worked with young people from the Link Charitable trust (Link CT) to design, make and inhabit wearable sculptures from everyday household materials. The project involved video teasers and demonstrations, project booklet (Thrift Fest activity pack), online workshops, Brotton Secret Community Event and project film.
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The downloadable activity pack can be accessed HERE.
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SESSIONS # 1-4
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SESSIONS was a 2019 experimental costume research project between costume designer Daphne Karstens and Lorraine Smith. During a 5-day intensive the artists experimented with various (non-fabric) everyday objects on the (moving) body to create innovative costume pieces. Varieties of (recycled) materials were used to explore sculptural and narrative capacities and the effect on the moving body.
In each experiment, the quality of the material was used to direct the design and performance process. The experiments demonstrated how ‘simple’ everyday objects, such as bottle caps, plastic cups, and cardboard boxes can be used in an abstract way to create innovative costume pieces, re-purposing the material from ‘practical’ to ‘sculptural’.
Essential in the design process was discovering the ‘sculptural essence’ of each material through experimentation, manipulation and structural repetition, and the heightened responsiveness of the performer towards the costume by engaging in the making process. The results of this project are an example of the potential creativity and innovation generated when the material is given agency in the design process.
CHECK THE DEVISED WORKS GALLERY TAB FOR IMAGES & VIDEO LINKS
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