Master of Ceremonies
Artist and Director Ian Smith takes time out from his company Mischief La-Bas to undertake once again the duties of chaperoning and matchmaking between audiences and artists. Fraternising in the back row will be frowned upon. On-the-spot disciplining may be in order...
The challenges of a new, vast and unfamiliar venue may cause occasional panic attacks, but rest assured, he will attempt to maintain a tranquil veneer.
A talk by Ian Smith
With 2004s Painful Creatures project, many of Smiths previous experiments and interests from 28 years of meddling with art finally melded together into one large spectacular. Featuring a cast of 37 including 10 commissioned international artists, Painful Creatures became a vast art circus, presenting a complete carnival of performances, installations (and even burning Wickermen) to thousands of punters in six cities. Always free, accessible and public, the project vindicated Smiths age-old belief that popular culture and high or difficult art can combine.
Ian is familiar to NRLA audiences as our regular MC, but as an artist and director he has been working in performance since 1978 and during that time has managed to abuse most artforms. He notably acted as the public face of the performance nightclub The Zap Club (Brighton) throughout the 80s, and during the 90s infested Glasgow with his interactive company Mischief La-Bas. The 21st century sees him continuing to collaborate with a wide variety of international artists, and create larger touring projects of international stature.
Painful Creatures touring was assisted primarily by the European group Insitu, Scottish Arts Council and Arts. Council England.