Festival of the Mind is a week long celebration of the University of Sheffield collaboration with the city’s cultural and creative industries. It takes place across Sheffield from 15 – 25 September in a few the city centre locations.
Researchers from Life at the Frontier worked with local artists have prepared a performance on the concept of social frontiers as part of Festival of the Mind. It will take place on Wednesday 21 September 4pm - 6pm in the Spiegeltent, Barker’s Pool, Sheffield.
The performance will provide a look at the idea of social frontiers through performance, visual art, augmented reality conversation and debate. The work is a result of a collaboration between Professor Gwilym Pryce and 'Life at the Frontier' researchers at the Sheffield Methods Institute (Dr Henry Staples and Dr Aneta Piekut (MRG Co-Director)), Bulgarian-born, Sheffield-based artist/cultural producer Lora Krasteva and Rotherham based visual artist Uzma Rani.
Social frontiers represent inequalities between people living alongside each other. While our differences (ethnic, economic, and so on) are most visible in these places, they also hold the potential to become spaces of encounter and transformation. The creative work of Lora and Uzma provokes us to imagine how residents of various backgrounds can ‘blur the edges’
Dr Henry Staples and Dr Aneta Piekut (MRG Co-Director)
"Life at the Frontier" researchers
This event will use multiple senses to evoke emotion whilst educating and entertaining audiences. You can expect interrogation of boundaries and a perspective on the migrant/non-migrant experience as art opens up the notion of social frontiers.
In a world filled with complexity and difference that is often weaponised to divide people, Uzma and I wanted to bring something both deep and beautiful for our audiences to take part in. We wanted to celebrate what makes us different and, at the same time, find space to understand and learn from each other. We look forward to sharing this multi-media intervention with you!
Lora Krasteva
Lead artist
This work has been funded as part of the three-year 2020-2023 'Life at the Frontier' project, which is funded by Nordforsk and the Economic and Social Research Council.