PROFORMA is Greater Manchester’s new annual one day showcase of contemporary art from the region developed for non gallery settings taking place on 28th July at The Dancehouse, Oxford Road. Founded by artists Lizz Brady and Rory Mullen with curator Chris Bailkoski, the inaugural PROFORMA will feature work by Omid Asadi, Sarah Boulter, Rory Cook, Nicola Dale, Elliott Flanagan, Go Away, Helmut Lemke, Rory Mullen, Lee Patterson, John Powell-Jones, Stina Puotinen and Jonathan Whitter with special live music performances by Lost Under Heaven and No Mercury with Lizz Brady. There will be a catalogue documenting the festival available in the Autumn and will feature texts by PROFORMA writer in residence, Tom Emery, alongside a specially produced documentary by IMPATV.
PROFORMA’s time restricted format is a key factor in artist selection, providing a sense of urgency and immediacy that reflect the artists’ own live, performance and moving image based visual art practices. For one night only, there will be 15 new commissions inspired by artists’ response to the site and ‘epic theatre’. Epic theatre was created in response to the political uncertainty of the 1930’s, the same decade as the Dancehouse’s art deco interior was constructed. Productions would involve multi-disciplinary arts, often involving set rearrangements in full view of the audience. PROFORMA will embrace this method of production and present live music, moving image, sound and performance over three acts with art and artists interchanging on stage.
