Stations2017: Stations of the Cross

Stations of the Cross grew out of a collaboration between Mark Dean (artist), Lizzi Kew Ross (choreographer) and Lucy Newman Cleeve (curator).

It brought together 14 video works by Mark Dean that re-interpret the Medieval tradition of making a spiritual pilgrimage through contemplation of the path Jesus walked to Calvary on the day of his crucifixion. The videos are not literal depictions of this journey. They rely upon Dean’s trademark appropriation of iconic film and video footage and music, to introduce visual and aural puns that behave as the generators and interrogators of meaning within the work, setting up a series of disputations between the different elements being sampled. They were projected onto the circular Henry Moore altar at St Stephen Walbrook throughout the night on Easter eve. Audience members were invited to stay for the duration but free to come and go, as part of a vigil event that culminated in a performance of A Prelude to Being Here by Lizzi Kew Ross and Co, and an optional dawn eucharist.

Stations of the Cross was the first of a 2-part series, the second of which takes place on 26th April at St Paul's Cathedral. Tickets can be booked here. The event at St Paul's includes the premiere performance of Here Comes The Sony, a 12 monitor video and sound installation by Mark Dean that re-interprets the less definitive tradition of the Stations of the Resurrection, which emerged to encourage meditation on the resurrection appearances of Jesus, and will be installed for the first time under the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral during Eastertide. Being Here, devised by choreographer, Lizzi Kew Ross and the dancers, connects the two events and will be performed in the middle of the circular stage formed by the placement of the television equipment. It combines images of human presence, comfort, hope, loss and regret implicit in the Resurrection stories with the shifting qualities of colour and sound formed by the installation. While not enacting the narratives, the dance performance is an interpretation of the moment, producing a sense of a shared journey and progression through time and space and enabling the audience to curate the tension and the distance between the installation and their own responses.

St Stephen Walbrook, designed by Christopher Wren in 1672, accommodates the first classical dome to have been built in England and was his prototype for the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral. Wren designed his churches to be ‘auditories’ in which everyone present could see, hear and feel themselves part of the congregation. Stations of the Cross and Stations of the Resurrection function in a similar way to the Mystery Plays, providing a contemporary re-interpretation of the story of Easter. The audience is an integral part of each event that, like the Visitatio Sepulchri liturgical dramas from the 10th - 11th centuries, are firmly placed in local contexts and intended to involve the whole community.

For more information visit: stations2017.org

Supported by The City of London Corporation, The Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral, The Diocese of London, Capital Vision 2020 Creatives Network, The Jerusalem Trust, commission4mission, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, Shoot the Sound, gigCMO and the Worshipful Company of Marketors.

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The Beatles - Here Comes The Sun.