The Cultural Capital Exchange Launches With Support From Trinity Laban

Music and Dance students from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance recently collaborated on a new work, Made in England for the launch of The Cultural Capital Exchange - a new membership network created to connect universities with the creative industries.  Made in England was devised by Susan Sentler and Trish Lyons and all performers and musicians in the work were from Trinity Laban.

Dr. Trish Lyons and Susan Sentler first crossed paths in Italy in 2010. Trish was working in Florence with a group of students from the MA in Performance Design & Practice at Central Saint Martins College of Art; and Susan was choreographing her first performance installation work, S-filare, in Prato at the Museo del Tessuto (the Museum of Fabric) with students and alumni from Trinity Laban. Trish, through advice of a colleague, went to see Susan's work along with her students. There started the friendship and dialogue between the two artists.

At the start of September, Susan was approached by Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance to produce a site-specific, collaborative work involving both their dancers and musicians in the Stamp Office stairwell of Somerset House for the launch of TCCE (The Culture Capital Exchange), the reinvention of  LCACE (London Centre for Arts and Cultural Exchange). Susan was interested to reapproach her second S-filare work created in 2011, again at the Museo del Tessuto in Prato, which focused on 'thread'. The initial work was supported by Trish, helping Susan find a starting point with inspiration from Lygia Clark, the three fates, and Louise Bourgeois. After viewing the site at Somerset House, Susan had an instinctive response to create a visual art installation within the well of the staircase; and from there, Trish immediately set in motion, engaging the newly enrolled students on the MA Performance Design & Practice from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design to be involved in the project.  

Through this collaboration Made in England evolved. A durational installation work of 7 dancers (representing the fates: she who weaves, measures, cuts), an actor (representing Britannia), 3 harpists (working with a structured improvisational framework in response to the different textures/dynamics of the fates), and a fabric and thread installation. The work was woven through the full length of the 5 floors of the stairwell, shifting at the end with the 'cutting', dissolving of the installation. A sensation of historic industries coming to a halt - not we hope, the fate of education and the arts.

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