ImMortal 2006



The Archive Exhibition


Development work is proceeding on the exhibition, with Catrin and Lauren taking the reins, and Ali overseeing, and a progress meeting yesterday

Catrin has been working on the timeline and starting to source the photos that are to be used.

Earlier Catrin and Lauren talked of scaffolding being used for the display of objects, to get a circus rigging sort of effect, but rule out due to cost and logistics. Another way has been found to display everything, which is directly circus themed and very current, nicely linking the photos of the past to what's happening at the moment and into the future - if you want to know what - come to the exhibition 12th December!

Four Elms

The exhibition will be held at NoFits State flagship premises in Splott - Four Elms. This converted church with its high ceilings was Wales' first dedicated circus training space, and it seems fitting that the past should be celebrated in a building very much inspiring and pushing forward to the future.

Because it is a converted older building, rather than purpose built, it is intensely interesting if somewhat rambling, perhaps like many NoFit State members themselves after a few bevvies.

learning stilt walking before the big conversion

It is bendy and wiggly, with rooms flung around everywhere, a bit like a stilt walker who has hit the deck. It is an interesting space to hold an exhibition in, and the meeting this week helped Ali and Catrin to thrash out how it will all fit.

2010 documentary

This project was a one week introduction to film and video. The task was to make a documentary on the nofitstate circus. The crew aged 13-17 decided on the group name "Tightwired".
During the week they filmed the nofitstate circus performance "ImMortal" and interviewed several performers. Some of the performance was shot on super-8 and 16mm film.

Working on the new Digital Archive

Toby has written:Some guidelines for editors of the NoFit State archive website 

– open to suggestions and revision

The website may be visited (and quoted) by all sorts of people, from journalists to funders, historians to family and friends.

So in the text we should retain a fairly neutral tone, and avoid in-jokes that might be misinterpreted or lead to people feeling excluded, or a chatty style that might look amateurish.

In the text area the default font will do – you are welcome to use HTML code if you are comfortable with it, but there is nothing uglier than broken code in text, so make sure it resolves.

Some fields for dates will have suggested style, but in free text we have settled for 13 Aug 1998, as a consistent look is more comfortable on the eye.

Any URL links should have some text of explanation as to where the link will take you if you click:

i.e. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8zDP0LBO4A 20 years in 10 minutes 10’31”.

Ideally they get merged, so you don’t even see the code.

20 years in 10 minutes 10’31

We should try to use accurate facts and spellings. If you are not sure of something, but want to add it to the site, please use a question mark in brackets (?) to highlight any detail for proof-readers and fact-checkers to follow up.

In terms of the data we are adding (e.g. tour dates), no facts at all are better than wrong facts. A gap draws attention to itself as something needing completing, whereas a wrong fact or spelling can be overlooked and become embedded.

            Attribution should be given where possible, to photographers, newspapers, writers, etc.

We need to decide how to approach the People profiles. They should have a choice of picture and text, but we might want to research (Linked-In, the NoFit State website, etc) and add basic Biogs for people. This is a whole big task.

The Archive Office

Ali

Polly and Toby

Liz and Catrin

In one of it's quieter moments!

The Use of visual recorded material on the Digital Archive

There is a lot of video material, some stretching back to quite early shows.

Toby has overseen the construction of the archive in such a way that all known material will be accessible - if there is a recording of a particular show then it is available.

There was some debate as to storage - whether all material should be stored on the website itself or not, but looking at websites that have chosen this route it often makes the website slow, and one of the main user experience that Toby was really focused on from the outset was that it should be quick and efficient, so anything that interfered with that was out the computer window!

All physical storage - dvd's etc - would be passed for archiving to the NSSAW National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales.

Labyrinth at Eden




The launch of the Labyrinth circus show at the Eden Project. NoFit State Circus's acrobats perform death-defying stunts inside the Eden Project's famous Biomes. The exhilarating Labyrinth show performed exclusively at Eden over the summer holidays (29 Jul -- 29 Aug).


The Exhibition

Two volunteers - Catrin and Lauren - have been working on the development of the exhibition since the exhibition development training day at Cardiff Story Museum. With Lucie Connors we had an in-depth look at how the CSM have developed their permanent exhibition in The Hayes, and as might be expected these days, there are many aspects to think about to make it educational, accessible and fun.

The NoFit State archive exhibition has a slightly different remit, the main difference being that the exhibition will be temporary, through December 2015.

Catrin in the Archive Office on Monday

Lauren is away at the moment, tho' back soon, so Catrin shared her archive exhibition notes- 

                                                            "what we have done so far"

Theme development for exhibition

The exhibition is about celebration (30 years) it will look at things such as:

Key stages in development of No Fit State

Different types of work: 

• community, 
• contemporary shows, 
• production of shows, 
• backstage

We produced a timeline for putting the exhibition together including what resources we need and who we need to work with.

We catalogued existing artefacts which include t shirts, costumes, props, posters, programmes, maybe some photos?

We met Tarn Aitken at the warehouse on Dumballs Road and looked at bigger artefacts

We looked at:

• large scale props
• models of sets
• notes for development of shows
• costumes
• parts of the set

We looked at different display methods and media we could use - online research, looking at existing resources and visiting museums.

            We researched issues to bear in mind such as key audiences, accessibility and how to produce engaging content that visitors can relate to.

                            We looked at how audiences can provide feedback on the exhibition.

                                                 We started looking at video, photos, archive materials and oral histories to pick out key stories and content for the exhibition.

                                                                 We started to think about events that can go alongside the exhibition

                                                                              We started recruiting volunteers and developed guidelines for their work such as how to edit oral histories.

                                                                                              We have started to produce written content for the exhibition.

Ali will be working with the girls and they will all be busy bees over the next few weeks, and this hive of activity will be up on this blog as it happens, stay tuned

Openhouse at Newbury 2014





Archiving the Paper Trail!

Robert has worked for many months now on the photographs. These are numerous as can be imagined. They have been treated according to the requirements of the Glamorgan Archives, who will be storing them for eternity!

The specific materials supplied and required by The Glamorgan Archive in order to store paper materials

Each photo had to squeezed into its own clear sleeve of special non-greasy, non-acidic plastic. Then each set of photos are bundled together and tied with special ribbon. All the bundles are placed in the non-acidic grey folder that is then placed in a non-acidic and sturdy brown box. No sticky labels or metal staples allowed. the labels are card and attached as shown in the photo.

That's a lot of boxes Robert!

Each of the shows and eras of NFS has it's own box, and at the moment they are in the Archive Project office, as Toby and Robert work through them.

Whose who! Toby and Robert working on the digital archive with the obligatory grey ponytail!

Robert, a self-confessed computer-phobe, has moved on to scanning the photos he has been working with for the last long while and grown very familiar with, onto the archive website, again a laborious job done admirably!

Mundo Paralelo
National Theatre Wales 
collaborates with World-class International Circus Company Nofitstate, Torch Theatre and Tattoo Theatre's director Mladen Materic to bring this unique new production to Milford 
Chapters - Reviews and Changes

The chapters on the archive website have evolved, and Toby has printed off the chapters to have a place to make notes on what has been done and uploaded, and what's still to do.

The Chapters in Paper Form

The Chapter grew from 6 to 8, and now show the eras of NoFit State, each with it's own characteristics:

Chapter 1 1983-86 Pre-NoFit State Balls up

Chapter 2 1987-90 Arts Play Umbrella 
1987 - Risky in Pink and Dangerous Duo formed, 87-88 - The Pantomime, 1989 Every witch way but up, 1990 A Wish Washes Whiter

Chapter 3 1991-1997 Blue Tent Years 
5th April Take a Chance starts touring, 
15th May The Defective Detective starts touring, 
1st May 1993 Dodo Island starts touring, 
12th May 1994 Totally Wicked starts touring, 
29th July-2nd Aug 1995 Community Shows Autogeddon, 
1996 Alice starts touring, 
25th April 1997 Treasure Island starts touring

Chapter 4 Late 1997-2002 
1997 Community show Prophecy - first Stepping Stone, 
1998 Community Show Now.Here - second Stepping Stone, 
2002 Sci-Circus tours in Blue Tent, 
2002 ImMortal - third stepping stone

Chapter 5 2003-2007 ImMortal Years
11th October 2003 Splott on the Landscape - coming out, 
2004 ImMortal - coming out, 
2005 ImMortal 2, 
2006 ImMortal - Seduce, Sun, Survive, 
2007 ImMortal, 
24-5th Feb 2006 Splott on the Landscape 2

Chapter 6 2008-2010 Tabu and Parklife
2008 Tabue - Standing on the Edge of the Wilderness, 
2009 Tabu - My Fears and Yours, 
2010 Community Show Parklife, Tabu - I Will Be Bad

Chapter 7 2011-2012 Barricade, Eden, Bianco
2011 Mundo Paralelo, 
2011 Barricade, 
2011 Labyrinth@Eden, 
2011 Communal Show Parklife Pod, 
2012 Barricade year 2, 
2012 Bianco@Eden, 
2012 Community Parklife Pod

Chapter 8 2013-2015 Open House Bianco Noodles
2013 Community Open House, 
2013 Noodles, 
2013 Bianco - Turning Savage, 
2014 Community Shows, Bianco, 
2015 Bianco, 
2016 Block