Street LAB

A micro-festival of live art busking

Enjoy live art with a musical twist on the streets of the city throughout Art Week Exeter… and show your appreciation through donations directly into the artists’ pockets!

Get It Off Your Chest

10am – 5pm | Sat 13, Sun 14, Sat 20

Musical performance duo Asthma experiment with noise making as a way to realise political frustrations. They’ve been gathering a sound bin of discarded, accidental and overlooked stuff and sounds from Exeter’s streets…  join them for a live, improvised collaboration between voices and sound scrap for a musical dance jam of a performance and let out a collective scream. 

A Five Year Old Could Do That

10am – 5pm | Sat 13 May | Exeter city centre
10am – 4pm | Sun 14 May | Art Market, Exeter Quay
10am – 5pm | Fri 19 May | Exeter City Centre
10am – 5pm | Sat 20 May | Exeter City Centre & Exeter Quay 

Criticisms such as “a five year old could do that” or “it’s not art” are often levelled at contemporary art, and especially at performance artists. Almost anyone – including animals, like chimps and elephants- can make and share deliberate images, sounds and movements, but could a five year old actually make contemporary art? What defines the difference between art and non-art, especially for general and unspecialised audiences? And conversely, are the proverbially easy things that five year olds do really so easy? Alistair Gentry will find out by taking a toy piano to the streets and publicly learning music from scratch using a system designed for kindergarten children. This live art busking pitch is equally influenced by John Cage’s works for toy or prepared pianos, and by the most basic comedy tactic of a grown man playing a very small piano very badly.

alistairgentry.net

The Song Dispensary

10am – 5pm | Thu 18 May | Exeter Library
10am – 5pm | Fri 19 May | Guildhall Shopping Centre
11am – 6pm | Sat 20 May | The Boat Shed, Exeter Quay

A trusted partner for your medical-musical needs! The Song Dispensary dispenses music like the chemist dispenses medicine. Sign up for your own personal consultation to decide what kind of song they can make that best suit your needs. You’re then free to explore the rest of the festival and city, and return a short time later to pick up your original song, performed for you live. They can produce up to six songs each day. As an audience member you can watch and listen as they compose and dispense their musical medicine.

Your song will later go online at thesongdispensary.wordpress.com for you to listen to at home. In the interests of patient confidentiality the online version of your song will only be recognisable to you. Check the signs at The Song Dispensary to find out what time the next consultations and performances are taking place. The song alchemists are Hans Kellett & Jörg Hochapfel from Berlin based punk chanson band Princessin Hans.

princessinhans.de

Pop-up Pianos

Sat 13 – Sat 20 May | 10am – 5pm | Exeter Library, Guildhall Shopping and The Boat Shed

Listen to a range of musical talent or have a go at busking yourself on our pop-up pianos. Book a performance slot by contacting info@musicindevon.org or turn up and see if one is free.

Visit on Sat 13 May for the chance of happening upon a jazz jamming session from Neil Todd and Charlie Hearneshaw, launching the first day of piano pop-ups in the city. 
The Neil Todd Ensemble will be at Exeter Library 10-11am, Guildhall 12-12.45pm, and The Boat Shed 3-3.45pm.

Street LAB is produced by Blind Ditch and Exeter Phoenix in partnership with Music In Devon Initiative. The project is supported by Exeter Library, Guildhall Shopping Centre and The Boat Shed. Share us on social media #streetlab