Adapting to a shifting landscape

Ten postgraduate students from the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures have been collaborating together since early June.

Leeds Creative Labs: Masters Editions allows students to explore their own creative and academic practice and build connections with a partner from a different academic discipline. Each student has had the freedom to share ideas and develop their creativity- without any expectation of a final, polished product.

Ahead of the share event on 4 Aug 2021, we caught up with two Masters students, Georgie Hook and Hayat Sebep, to find out about their experiences so far…

Composing the sound of nature…

“Composing music without much inspiration has been challenging for me as a composer throughout the pandemic,” Hayat says.

“Georgie and I were paired up by the Leeds Creative Labs team since we shared similar yet unique interests. Every chat we had suggested a new concept that we might collaborate on together.

“Georgie and I first met on campus in St George’s Fields. It was an inspiring environment to be in for a performance designer and a composer, given both of our work is mostly inspired by nature. The first few ideas came from folklore and anthropomorphism as we wandered around the fields.”

“The ivy that surrounded the trees and the cemeteries provided us with a starting point for our ideas.”

“Georgie had an interest in creating an experience for the audience, so we also considered making a piece for an audience with which they could engage. The idea of recording sounds from nature and contrasting them with sounds from a crowded city seemed like something we might work on together to symbolise the easing of lockdown restrictions and our quick adaptability to these sounds.”

“Because of the endless ideas we had for this project, I realised that we may continue to collaborate informally even after the Creative Labs is over!”

…… and recognising its meditative qualities

“Walking around St George’s Field during our first in-person meeting, it became apparent just how many mutual interests myself and Hayat have — both in our creative practice and in life!” Georgie recalls about the experience of meeting her Leeds Creative Labs collaborator for the first time.

“In particular, we share an eagerness to facilitate reconnections with nature through music and scenography respectively. Our discussions so far have involved thinking about what shape a collaboration between these two complimentary artistic forms might take. An audio experience that guides you in a kind of meditation to reencounter a familiar outdoor space? A filmic collage with musical composition that reflects on the species of English ivy in connection to the body?”

“We have also discussed artistic inspirations, such as the performance work of Ana Mendieta and musician Jeff Buckley — both of whom met particularly tragic ends. This, along with meeting in the cemetery grounds, led to reflections on life and death, as well as the ephemeral and temporal nature of both musical and theatrical performances.

“I am looking forward to continuing this collaboration, sharing our ideas with fellow Creative Labbers, and exploring our ideas more practically as the next stage.”

What is Leeds Creative Labs: Masters Edition?

Leeds Creative Labs is the flagship programme of the Cultural Institute at the University of Leeds. Since 2012, artists and academics from across many disciplines have been matched through the programme to playfully explore connections, ideas, and each other’s practice without the confines of a specific outcome.

In 2021, for the first time we have expanded the programme to offer students the opportunity to collaborate between disciplines, connect with peers and explore how new ideas might be developed using a creative, open-ended framework.

Starting in June, five pairings of postgraduate students from the Faculty of Arts, Humanities & Cultures are currently spending three flexible days together. Each student has had the freedom to share ideas and develop their creativity — without any expectation of a final, polished product. They receive support from Cultural Institute staff and each pairing has a budget to develop and realise ideas. See the list of participants

Join the share event

The Leeds Creative Labs process is designed to be open-ended and exploratory, and many participants do continue to work together for weeks, months or even years after the official partnership is brought to an end. For that reason, rather than a ‘showcase’ of finished projects, we celebrate with a share event, where each pairing reflects on their experiences, what they’ve learned and where they hope to go next.

Join us on Wednesday 4 August we as listen in on the creative and playful collaborations between the Leeds Creative Lab: Masters Edition participants. Register here