A new project - Text Art

You are invited to take part in a playful experiment called Text Art.

This is a new way for artists and the public to collaborate. The result will be a short film or animation made with letters and words, which you can film using your phone. Use any medium you like - icing, mud, paper, embroidery - whatever you can think of!

To source your words, we want you to ask a local friend or family member who wouldn’t normally get involved in art. They need to give you a sentence or two, which they can choose from a book, film, poem, quote, or just their own thoughts. Once they’ve come up with the words, ask them to send you an audio recording of themselves speaking the words. Later, you’ll include this as a soundtrack to your final piece of imagery.

(If this sounds too technical for you, don't worry! We are here to help)
Crucially, we want your work to involve plenty of movement. There are lots of ways you can do this:

• The subject itself (the words) can be moving
• The camera can move around the subject, showing it from different angles
• You can create movement by changing the lighting
• Or you can edit pictures or short videos together, like a slideshow
• Try to avoid filming the sentence as a whole - rather pay attention to each word or the key words.

The finished video length should be 1-2 mins, and ideally in landscape format. The final works will be shown on New Fringe, Right Up Our Street and Doncaster Creates websites. A modest budget is set aside for any special materials needed on request.

Top tips

You don't need to use all of the words of the sentence in your art work; you could just use key words.
Could you collaborate with local tradespeople? eg cake decorators, hairdressers, mechanics?
The easiest way to get the audio recording from the non-artist is to use the microphone button in Whatsapp. Or if they don’t have a smartphone, they can simply leave you a voicemail.

Examples to get you thinking:

https://vimeo.com/10754847
https://dornob.com/found-built-typography-10-real-life-physical-fonts/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8C2lGaW-Yg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKIg0ruxd4I
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2450611575049184
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/443956475739021987/
https://slubne-suknie.info/?n=ceramic+words
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fayy79F51tY&feature=emb_logo

Help and advice

Ideas help: Contact Sacha by email: Sachagray78@gmail.com
Group support: Here’s the Text Art Whatsapp group

Email tech support: Contact Holland at hollsinger@live.co.uk 

Editing SOS: Editing your video can be part of the fun of the process, but if you feel it's beyond you, Anton is happy to do the editing for you. You can email him your instructions at anthec@gmail.com

Telephone numbers and a tech support sheet are available on request.

This is a research and development project supported by Right Up Our Street in response to the COVID-19 crisis, funded by Arts Council England and DMBC. ​