Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Present EXHIBITION ROAD SHOW, Now thru Aug 5

A unique and exciting new festival is coming to London this Summer: a festival for all ages and tastes; for music fans and art lovers, science aficionados and fashionistas, foodies and bookworms. The festival is set for today, 28 July - 5 August, 2012.

Exhibition Road Show was commissioned by The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea as a celebration of the cultural heartland of London, a landscape of wonder unfolding throughout the first nine days of the Olympic Games

Adding to the fun and games, there is an ambitious programme of public art commissions, offering a platform for emerging and uncompromising creative talent, a diverse music line up of some of the best British and International Artists, a newly formed dance and acrobatic troupe, The Exhibitionists, who will perform on the Road throughout the festival, and a specially commissioned book of short stories, featuring contributions from some of our most creative authors.

The V&A, Science Museum and Natural History Museum will be open to the public as usual throughout the Olympics and during Exhibition Road Show will remain open until 10pm.

ROAD SHOW ART COMMISSIONS

Exhibition Road Show is excited to present a trio of art commissions, including Campo del Cielo - new work by Katie Paterson, one of the UK’s leading, emerging young artists working across art and science and where the two converge. A meteorite that is several billion years old has been re-cast, and the public will be encouraged to explore the work and think about where it came from.

Artist, theatre maker and composer Graeme Miller’s work, On Air, will create a continuous commentary on the everyday life of Exhibition Road during the first nine days of the Olympics, featuring guest commentators. High above Exhibition road on the balcony of the V&A, broadcasters, with a particular emphasis on sports commentators, will respond to the passing action, creating audio tracks that passers-by can listen to through special in-ear radios.

The Slovakian artist Tomàš Libertiny who creates sculptures inhabited by living bees, has made The Agreement, a new work helped by the apiarist from the Chelsea Physic Garden, exploring the relationship between natural and manmade production systems.

Because Exhibition Road has one of the greatest concentrations of scientific scholarship anywhere in the world, science and discovery inspires, informs and drives this uniquely challenging and captivating contemporary art programme.

ROAD SHOW MUSIC

From the sublime lyricism of Patrick Wolf, to the exotic hybridity of Bishi, the music programme of the Road Show offers a dazzling showcase of contemporary sounds from around the world. Eliza Carthy takes to the stage with her charismatic brand of folk music, while Leafcutter John and Leo Abrahams explore and experiment in electronic music. Exhibition Road Show is also excited to welcome Open Souls, a new collaboration with Seb Rochford of Polar Bear on drums, beatboxer and artist Jason Singh, and Indian vocals by Ranjana Ghatak. The renowned pianist and avid cyclist The Olympianist, who is cycling the length of Britain this summer with his ‘BeethoVan’ in tow, will conclude his journey at the Road Show. The artist and music maker Simon Fisher Turner will present his recently commissioned score for The Great White Silence, which premiered at the BFI London Film Festival to critical acclaim.

Exhibition Road Show’s house band, The Royal College of Music brass quintet ,will perform throughout the festival.

The full programme can be found at www.exhibitionroadshow.co.uk/programme/musicians

ROAD SHOW: THE EXHIBITIONISTS

Exhibition Road Show is bringing together an international ensemble of performers for the festival. Dancers, acrobats and circus performers have been auditioned and selected to form The Exhibitionists, who are working under the direction of internationally acclaimed circus and theatre director Sue Broadway, and a world class team of aerialists including Simon Fee and Lindsay Butcher. Emerging UK choreographer Ella Guilfoyle and Place Prize nominee Tony Adigun are creating new choreographies for the group. Throughout the nine days The Exhibitionists will deliver a series of choreographed dance works, and extraordinary acrobatic and circus feats.

Exhibition Road Show has chosen Central St Martins fashion graduate Libby Todd to design the costumes for The Exhibitionists.

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