Artichoke (creative company)
Encyclopedia
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
-based British company and registered charitable trust that stages art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
s spectacles and live events. It was founded in 2002 by Helen Marriage, former director of the Salisbury International Arts Festival
Salisbury International Arts Festival
Salisbury International Arts Festival is an annual multi-arts festival that delivers over 120 arts events each year, including concerts, comedy, poetry, dance, exhibitions, outdoor spectacles, and commissioned works....
, and Nicky Webb.
Description
Artichoke specialises in working in unusual places, such as streets, public spaces and the countryside, and are frequently on a large scale. The company's website states:
The Sultan's Elephant
The Sultan's Elephant was a show created by the Royal de Luxe theatre company, involving a huge moving mechanical elephant, a giant marionette of a girl and other associated public art installations. In French it was called La visite du sultan des Indes sur son éléphant à voyager dans le temps...
, the biggest piece of free theatre ever staged in London, which attracted a million people over a four day period in 2006, and the recent event in Liverpool featuring La Princesse
La Princesse
La Princesse is a 15-metre mechanical spider designed and operated by French performance art company La Machine. The spider was showcased in Liverpool, England, as part of the 2008 European Capital of Culture celebrations, travelling around the city between 3-7 September. In 2009, it was on...
, a giant mechanical spider. Artichoke has received praise from the press for their productions: a review in The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
wrote: "a two-woman company called Artichoke ... are one of the most vital of theatrical forces", and Marriage and Webb transformed the Salisbury Festival from a local event into what The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
called "a miracle of modern British culture". Marriage and Webb won the 2006 Women of the Year Shine Award for an outstanding achievement in the arts, and were listed in Time Out's list of 100 Movers and Shakers in London in November of the same year. Their production of The Sultan's Elephant won the Visit London Award for Cultural Event of the Year in 2006. In October 2007 Artichoke mounted a one-day conference, Larger Than Life, on all aspects of staging large-scale productions.
The Artichoke Trust is a registered charity (Reg Charity No 1112716), funded by the Arts Council
Arts council
An arts council is a government or private, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing events at home and abroad...
and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is a Portuguese private foundation of public utility whose statutory aims are in the fields of arts, charity, education, and science...
, and raising significant funds from other trusts, foundations and businesses, as well as by public donation. Artichoke also works as a consultant through its non-charitable company, Artichoke Productions Ltd.
Selected Productions
Nicky Webb and Helen Marriage worked together intermittently on productions prior to founding Artichoke in 2002. In all, their productions have included:
- 1990 and 1992-3 Canary Wharf. Productions to mark the new development at Canary WharfCanary WharfCanary Wharf is a major business district located in London, United Kingdom. It is one of London's two main financial centres, alongside the traditional City of London, and contains many of the UK's tallest buildings, including the second-tallest , One Canada Square...
in London. - 1999 Salisbury Festival: Dining with Alice at the Larmer Tree Pleasure GardensLarmer Tree GardensThe Larmer Tree Gardens near Tollard Royal in south Wiltshire, England, were created by Lieutenant-General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers in 1880 as pleasure grounds for "public enlightenment and entertainment". They were the first private gardens opened for public enjoyment in the United...
in Wiltshire, a performance based on Alice's Adventures in WonderlandAlice's Adventures in WonderlandAlice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
. This will be re-staged in 2009. - 1999 Salisbury Festival: Last Words. A poetry festival without a single poem being read.
- 1999-2000 Salisbury Festival: Eye Openers in Salisbury and at Old SarumOld SarumOld Sarum is the site of the earliest settlement of Salisbury, in England. The site contains evidence of human habitation as early as 3000 BC. Old Sarum is mentioned in some of the earliest records in the country...
. - 2002 The Queen's Jubilee Commissioned for the golden jubileeGolden JubileeA Golden Jubilee is a celebration held to mark a 50th anniversary.- In Thailand :King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, celebrated his Golden Jubilee on 9 June 1996.- In the Commonwealth Realms :...
of Queen Elizabeth II.
As Artichoke:
- 2003 Imber, a requiem for the village of ImberImberImber is an uninhabited village in part of the British Army's training grounds on the Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England. It is situated in an isolated area of the Plain, about west of the A360 road between Tilshead and West Lavington, accessible only by military tracks...
on Salisbury PlainSalisbury PlainSalisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in central southern England covering . It is part of the Southern England Chalk Formation and largely lies within the county of Wiltshire, with a little in Hampshire. The plain is famous for its rich archaeology, including Stonehenge, one of England's best known...
that was requisitioned by the British Army in World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
for training purposes and its inhabitants evacuated. Commissioned by Artangel. - 2006 The Sultan's ElephantThe Sultan's ElephantThe Sultan's Elephant was a show created by the Royal de Luxe theatre company, involving a huge moving mechanical elephant, a giant marionette of a girl and other associated public art installations. In French it was called La visite du sultan des Indes sur son éléphant à voyager dans le temps...
in London, in association with French performance arts company Royal de LuxeRoyal de luxeRoyal de Luxe is a French mechanical marionette street theatre company. They were founded in 1979 by Jean Luc Courcoult. Based in Nantes, the company has performed in France, Belgium, England, Germany, Iceland, Chile, Australia and Mexico.- Gigantic puppets :...
. This is the largest free public arts event ever to have been staged in London - 2006 A Portrait of London in Trafalgar SquareTrafalgar SquareTrafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...
, created by film director Mike FiggisMike FiggisMichael "Mike" Figgis is an English film director, writer, and composer.-Personal life:Figgis was born in Carlisle, England and grew up in Africa. Figgis for several years had a relationship with the actress Saffron Burrows and cast her in several films...
to mark the 50th anniversary of the London Film FestivalLondon Film FestivalThe BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, , currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute...
. - 2008 Telectroscope in association with artist Paul St GeorgePaul St GeorgePaul St George is a London based multimedia artist and sculptor, best known for The Telectroscope, an art installation visually linking London and New York....
, linking New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. - 2008 La PrincesseLa PrincesseLa Princesse is a 15-metre mechanical spider designed and operated by French performance art company La Machine. The spider was showcased in Liverpool, England, as part of the 2008 European Capital of Culture celebrations, travelling around the city between 3-7 September. In 2009, it was on...
, a giant mechanical spider that roamed the streets of LiverpoolLiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
as part of the European City of Culture celebrations. In association with French performance art company La MachineLa Machine (production company)La Machine is a French production company based in Nantes, France, which is famous for La Princesse, a 50-foot mechanical spider constructed in Nantes, France.-Background:...
. - 2009 One & OtherOne & OtherOne & Other was a public art project by Antony Gormley, in which 2,400 members of the public occupied the usually vacant fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, London, for an hour each for 100 days. The project began at 9am on Monday 6 July 2009, and ran until 14 October. The first person to officially...
, Antony GormleyAntony GormleyAntony Mark David Gormley OBE RA is a British sculptor. His best known works include the Angel of the North, a public sculpture in the North of England, commissioned in 1995 and erected in February 1998, Another Place on Crosby Beach near Liverpool, and Event Horizon, a multi-part site...
's Fourth Plinth project in Trafalgar SquareTrafalgar SquareTrafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...
, which placed 2400 people on the empty plinth for one hour at a time over 100 days. - 2009 Lumiere, a light festival in held in DurhamDurhamDurham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...
, containing over 20 installations and new commissions that transformed the city for four nights. The event had 75,000 visitors - an increase of 40,000 on the previous year's 'Enlightenment'.