Category: Art

Three Sheets to the Sea takes its name from the nautical expression ‘three sheets to the wind’, meaning to not have command over a vessel because one had lost control of the sheets or lines’. It is an evening in three parts, responding to the Remembrance Day for Lost Species, which happens on 30th November each year.

Taking on the theme of islands and seas, we shall weave through the story of a long extinct sea algae that created the conditions for other species to thrive, whilst making the climate inhabitable for itself. This is presented alongside everyday tales of humans and other beings intertwined in capital-climate-crisis.

Performative-poem-talk drags us on a multisensory journey from the early evolutionary life of sea organisms, to our present condition, and onwards to a future of robotic sea dwellers. This is followed by a participatory workshop exploring our experience and emotions as we take part in ritual remembrance for lost and forgotten sea species. To close, we will hold a wake together, with probiotic and oceanic foodstuffs, to feed and facilitate a shared discussion around the themes of supply chains, climate change, extinction and our place within it all.

Jules Varnedoe and Liam Geary Baulch

julesvarnedoe.com lostspeciesday.org thebenevolentassociationofexcellentsolutions.co.uk

We will not stand. (We will sit.)
We will not stand still. (We will travel.)
We will not stand for this. (We will travail.)

On residency at Est-Nord-Est in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli a town which despite its idyllic countryside setting is spread along a busy road, which all sorts of heavy goods vehicles, mobile homes, motor bikes and even houses travel along each day. Artists Jeremy Laffon and Liam Geary Baulch collaborated in an intervention which responds to this and their individual practices.

“The sea is a mass. A network of molecules which move together. Mass = Volume x Density. The seas density is affected by temperature and salinity, therefore as the planet warms the mass of the sea increases. The masses are rising.

Unlike many species, Humans have the ability to change within one lifetime. Some will adapt as the sea levels rise. Will we wait for the rising of the masses, or the rising of the sea levels before we act.” From draft essay on cheerleading against climate change.

The Sea can be seen as a Cheerleading Squad, and Cheerleaders could give the Sea a voice around climate change, colonialism and capitalism. The Sea Squad, cheerleading against climate change, is open to all to join and can be followed at seacheerleader.tumblr.com

“All around my hat I will wear my right to protest, All around my hat I will wear my fear with pride, And if anyone should ask you the reason why I’m wearing it”

“you tell ’em I’m from London, and that I’m here to stay”

“you tell ’em I’m a nutter, who should be locked away”

“You may applaud Weiwei, I’ll raise a glass to his health/
but will you stand for your people, will you fight for yourself?”

“You see, what I’m saying, basically, is… you can’t make an omelette without cracking a few eggs… and humanity is just a cracked egg… and the omelette stinks. It’s cracking up! The freedom bell is cracking up!!”

“You snooze you looze. You work, we improve. All for one, percent.”

All Around My Hat was a piece of performance, writing, and kinetic costume creation in 2015

Performance, Sound and Video, Participants

First performed at Reclaim the Space, DIG, Lewisham, 19.4.2014

Dance workshop, learning dance movements with a significance or practical use for political direct action. A high energy, fast paced way to learn about, explore and discuss creative direct action.

For groups of 10 and above. Can be made to work for different ages, abilities, interests or amounts of time available. Contact for bookings.

Formed upstairs in the Amersham Arms, New Cross, 22.10.2013

Deptford Dockyard (Off in the Hands of the London Mayor)

Video and Sound, 2014

A weekly meet up in Deptford to learn and sing sailors’ working songs. Started at a time when Deptford’s history is being washed away by gentrification. The flyer highlighted the loss of the Anchor from Deptford High Street which has become a symbol of this. The group decided to write a shanty about the local struggle to hold on to Deptford’s community and history.

The Deptford Shanty Crew have performed in Deptford Lounge, the Dog and Bell pub, and they have been asked to sing on a BBC documentary about Deptford’s history. Contact for use of any songs or recordings.

Video and sound, 2013

We will survive the bedroom tax, Catford, 27.11.2013

Performance at AMP must meet, Bussey Building, 20.3.14

Chitra Sangtani and Liam Geary Baulch