Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (ACCA), the Grade-II listed arts centre on the University of Sussex campus in Brighton, has established a solid reputation for showcasing innovative contemporary artists and championing experimental work. Its carefully curated and thought-provoking programme of music, dance, performance, screenings, talks, workshops and festivals continues to inspire audiences from across Sussex and beyond.
Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts is also hosting eight film events in November as part of CINECITY Brighton. See the programme.
What’s on this season:
On Wednesday 29 October, Moin, a London-based three-piece featuring Tom Halstead and Joe Andrews of the electronic outfit Raime, alongside visionary percussionist Valentina Magaletti, recontextualise a range of guitar-based genres—grunge, shoegaze, and post-rock—through an enigmatic reimagining of the traditional band dynamic. Employing both conventional and unique compositional techniques, their sound is marked by a visceral immediacy that comes to life in full force during their live performances. They are supported by Hyperdawn, an experimental pop duo from North Manchester.
The Witch is having a moment. With over 9 million ‘WitchTok’ posts on TikTok, she’s become a feminist icon. In today’s #MeToo world, women are reclaiming the Witch as a symbol of sexual freedom and resistance to patriarchal norms. In her talk The History of Witchcraft and Feminism on Friday 31 October, Laura Kounine will explore the legacy of the early modern witch-hunts and how the Witch is now being reclaimed as a symbol of feminism, activism, and empowerment.
How do you continue to value yourself when society doesn’t value you? Audacious, vulnerable and tender, Dan Daw, a Queer, crippled dance artist on the rise, takes us back to where he began – working class, with very little – to reflect on how far he’s come. EXXY is a powerful new performance by Dan Daw Creative Projects, touring the UK this autumn. It arrives at ACCA on Thursday 6 & Friday 7 November. Co-commissioned by Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Battersea Arts Centre, Transform, Take Me Somewhere, and Tramway for the New Dimensions commission. Both performances are captioned, Thursday 6 November is also BSL interpreted and Friday 7 November performance is audio described.
Presented by Outlands Network, Available Light is a new touring commission devised by London based artist, writer and musician, Morgan Quaintance. This core body of Quaintance’s new work is placed in a changing configuration alongside other contributions — music, spoken word and moving image — from a range of invited artists. At ACCA, on Thursday 20 November, the programme features artist and filmmaker Sophio Medoidze, filmmaker Chiemi Shimada, British composer Jamie Man and Millips (samples and electronics).
Following their sell-out performance in 2018, Tune-Yards, the dynamic duo of Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner, return to ACCA on Friday 21 November, touring their new album Better Dreaming.Known for explosive performances, surprising song structures, and danceable rhythms, their music also highlights connections between song and social consciousness. They are supported by London-based indie pop three piece, LuxJury, who use elements of pop, rock and soul–baring and self-effacing lyricism.
On Saturday 22 November, original band members, Chris Watson and Stephen Mallinder, present an anniversary show celebrating 50 years since Cabaret Voltaire, one of Britain’s most influential and pioneering electronic bands, first performed live at the Sheffield Students Union Refectory on 13 May 1975. In the current climate of social turmoil and political manipulation, the prescient work of Cabaret Voltaire continues to be necessary. The sounds, words, images and films of the band still resonate loudly, continuing to challenge the status quo. They are supported by MICROCORPS. NB this event is sold out.
On Saturday 29 November, Marlborough Productions present: ALOHA ‘OE, a day-long creative workshop with Hawaiian artist Stacy Makishi. Part of Stacy’s year-long participatory project Walking Each Other Home, exploring where and how we gather, how ritual can heal and transform, and how we might build communities of connection; to ourselves, and to each other.
On Thursday 29 January, composer, singer, choir leader and performance artist Jenny Moore presents Wild Mix, an immersive choral punk musical featuring a queer ensemble of five singers, drummers, and a kickboxer. They are friends, lovers, colleagues, housemates. Through a soaring six-part song-cycle, multi-layered vocals, intense beats, and poignant storytelling, it asks: what does healing feel like? At its core lies a unique instrument: a transparent, water-filled boxing bag with a hydrophone, an underwater device used to record ocean sounds.
With the blessing of David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti, Xiu Xiu released and toured Plays the Music of Twin Peaks (2016-2018). After the recent passing of Lynch, the band received requests to revive their interpretation of this iconic music. ERASERHEAD XIU XIU is a new live concert (on Saturday 31 January) with accompanying film that uses field recordings, and concert-specific homemade instruments to express the bizarre emotionality, conflicted sexuality and singularly unsettled moonscape of this most incredible of midnight masterpieces. The original sound design and score by Alan Spelt and Lynch serve as guide wires to Xiu Xiu’s sonic expansion of how they have been affected by them as fans and musicians.
See the full programme and book tickets at www.attenboroughcentre.com
