Support Artist led events
Show your appreciation and support the team that makes the festivals happen by donating to our GoFundMe campaign. It's really easy and no amount is too small - just click on the button to the right to make your donation.
Thank you so much for your support, it really does make such a big difference.
participation projects
In 2020 when we launched our participatory projects as a way to support and encourage the development of new creative work and connections during unprecedented times, we had spent a long time talking about the festivals and how we could make them meaningful for artists in the context of the pandemic. We felt a raw passion in our belief that going ahead with the festivals was the right thing to do to support our community in the only way that we know how – through creating, sharing and belonging together.
We could not have imagined then, that a year later, we would still be living in such unprecedented times. Times where perhaps the repeated use of the word unprecedented is fast becoming the only precedent there is. Now, more than ever, that need for connecting, sharing, creating and just being amongst our peers is strongly felt and yet possibly harder than ever to initiate. The aim of these participatory projects is to ease us all into this process of opening up by providing opportunities to connect from afar over distance whilst sharing what brings us all close together, the magic of creating.
We hope you enjoy these participation projects – feel free to take part in as many or as few as are relevant and engaging for you. A couple of projects will remain open for participation throughout 2021 so check back and see what you can get involved in.
The Distance Between Us
This participation project was inspired by the co-creation project of the same name by Alita Bustamante, Ria Breedveld and Sarah Misselbrook. The aim of the project is to cocreate a written piece, with people from all over the world taking part. Alita, Ria and Sarah have started the piece off by contributing two lines each. To take part, in this piece, simply add the next two lines! The rules are simple:
1. Add two lines at a time and no extra information or text or the flow of the writing will be interrupted.
2. You can contribute multiple times but please allow two others to post before you contribute again.
You can see how the written piece is coming along as it is embedded to the right here. To get involved just click on the plus sign - if you don't have a Padlet account, you will be prompted to create one first. It is free and easy to do so don't let the extra step stop you from joining in and being a part of it.
You Create the distance
When Paul Klee said to take a line for a walk perhaps he didn't quite imagine what we have in mind! Inspired by Aurora Pagano's suggestion to create a 'living, breathing artwork where artists can contribute to a global journey,' we have created this fun participation project. It is something that everyone can join in so share it with your friends, family and children.
In four simple steps you can be part of the global journey.
1. Download the template by clicking here.
2. Take a line for a walk between the start and end points. You can do this digitally or print off the template and work on it physically and then scan or photograph it. The only rule is that your journey has to travel from the top point to the bottom point on the image.
3. Add your completed 'line' to our journey by clicking the plus side at the bottom of the image to the right. If you don't have a Padlet account yet you will have to create an account but it is free and simple.
4. When you add your image, don't include a title or any text as it will stop the line!
Once you have submitted your image, scroll through the page and enjoy the total 'DISTANCE' created by all the participating artists; and let's see where the journey takes us! You have until the end of the 2021 festivals to join in.
Collaborate and Connect
Back by popular demand (suggested this year by Patrick Rogiński and others) is our artist collaboration project!
Work on top of, underneath or with existing imagery from another artist's creative practice to create a collaborative finished piece connecting you artistically across the distance, even though you may not have ever met!
Through this process you may encounter a subject matter, artform, material or technique that is unfamiliar or even totally unknown to you. And this is all part of the fun! In this project you are inviting someone else to complete a piece of your work without restrictions and at the same time taking on the same challenge. This all happens digitally, of course, so you don't actually lose the original work. It's win-win! Have a look here to see the results from last year's collaboration project.
To get involved you need to contribute an unfinished piece of work in any media. We will then pair you up with another artist's unfinished work at random for you to complete. You will have four weeks to complete the work in any way you feel is right, before sending it back to us for display in our 'Collaborate and Connect' gallery.
Check out our Flickr album and YouTube channel to see the amazing results from this international project of creating over distance.
OPEN CALL ‘Distance’ by >BAUM< Art Collective
Since the beginning of 2020, the world has been in crisis because of Covid 19. For this interactive project, the Art Collective >BAUM< collects images, worldwide, of signs warning people to keep their distance. In each city or country the graphic designs have a different look & feel. The message remains just as intrusive.
This project aims to collect all these designs and create a mosaic that connects people from all over the world, regardless of culture, origin or tradition. While people are physically distant from each other, they are connected through the current situation. They feel closer to each other in a spiritual way, being confronted with a common crisis such as the pandemic.
The project has now finished and the results from around the world can be found here: https://jetonmuja.wixsite.com/distance
be your own hero
- a catherine chliaras project for Lacuna Festivals
Be Your Own Hero is an artist led project organised by Catherine Chliara. A video combining a choreographed duet and your video clips regarding the reasons why certain women do not want to confess their sexual harassment.
The premiere of the video was part of the Lacuna Festivals events programme and can still be seen on Catherine's YouTube channel.
Catherine says - It is sensitive, but powerful.
The Travelling Sketchbook
- a Lucija Jankovec project for Lacuna Festivals
The goal of this project is to create a travelling art piece, where participating artists have a chance to create and to intervene, manipulate or add onto the works made by previous artists. The final result will be a group effort where all the lines are blurred – no clear or distinct artist’s identity is shown. The only thing left is the co-created artists’ book and the distances it has travelled.
A sketchbook will be posted amongst creators with each participating artist creating up to three new pages (without restrictions on media or theme). Artists may also chose to create interventions or make edits on previous pages too. Artists are then asked to scan their contributions and add them to a dedicated Facebook group to chart the progress of the book in real time before posting the book on to the next artist.
The final artist will post the finished artwork back to Lacuna Festivals HQ. Here the completed book will be scanned in its entirety and presented as a digital flipbook on the Lacuna Festival website. In addition, a PDF copy will be made available for all participating artists.
Due to logistics and time management only 10 artists could participate in this project and they were allocated on a first come basis. All spaces are now full and The Travelling Sketchbook has started it's journey beginning in India. Keep watching our social media pages for progress on how this participatory arts project is progressing.
postcards
Remember holidays and sending postcards? Well, we'd love to hear from you with snapshots of your current lived reality. Make your postcard in any medium you wish, send a vintage card or manipulate a contemporary one. With thanks to Kay Murphy and Lucija Jankovec for their ideas :)
The postcards from around the world were exhibited from 2nd - 29th July 2021 at our physical exhibition in the Casa de la Cultura, Yaiza, Lanzarote. Lanzaorte, of course, being a location where traditionally postcards are sent from, not to. You can see a walk round of the physical gallery exhibition on our YouTube channel.
In addition, we invited audience members at Casa de la Cultura to also create postcards and leave them for us as a memento of their visit. These postcards, along with the artist postcards, are in the process of being transformed into a beautiful publication. We will be holding a virtual launch later in the year so keep watching our social media channels for updates on this.
insta you insta us
A few artists suggested an Instagram takeover including Channing Gray & Jesse Egner. We think this is a great way to help build a sense of community amongst artists and to spread the word about you and your work.
With the number of artists we have taking part in The Lacuna Festivals 'DISTANCE', it would be a tough task to allow each artist access for a day and as such we instead shared images and text on behalf of artists that submitted to this project. In exchange participating artists received images and text from us to post on their Instagram page.
Please visit our instagram page to see the Distance 2021 InstaYouInsta Us project.
