Polar Produce
Polar Produce are a Bristol-based collective who create, research and produce devised, site-specific, live art and interactive, music and new media works. The group was initially established in 1996, in Glasgow, Scotland and in 2005 relocated to Bristol, UK. Between 1996-1999 the group organised and developed several one off live theatre-club events, across Glasgow. Bringing together musicians, designers, live artists, DJs and VJs. These events were carnivalesque in style and drew on DIY, live art and hacker culture. For the most there were never documented and therefore only exist in memory of those who attended and made them happen. From 1999-2005, the group pursued their individual interests and have for the most been involved in creating, developing and researching the possibilities and limitations of new devices and interfaces for live performance and interaction.
Recent Projects
Since moving to Bristol in 2005, the company have gained a reputation of creating and producing innovative live performance and media based work. Their 2005 show, Measc was performed for four nights in the John Wesley New Room, Broadmead as part of Creative Bristol. The performance focused of consumerism and production, drawing on contemporary and historical perspectives, such as Bristol trade history and the contemporary retail surroundings of the New Rooms. Measc was one the first live performance/installations in the UK to use radio frequency tag technologies to explore how audiences and performers could trigger multimedia content, in real time during the performance. The tags allowed the audience to participate in the work, while the performers reacted to the content and audience, engaging the audience in a participatory performance experience.
In 2006 the company created Taking Ground in Bristol’s Harbour as part of the Brunel 200 celebrations. Devised and performed by six artists, Taking Ground continued the companies location based work in historical and architecturally significant sites. Drawing on the site, themes such as departure and separation, the consequences of progression and innovation on communication and interaction were explored. As with Measc, Taking Ground actively engaged audience members in co-producing and re-enacting parts of the performance, as they were brought on a performative tour of the site.
Recent+Current
Currently the company have been commissioned by the BBC to design and develop media and web related materials of the Participate environmental/technology project. Alongside their individual practices, the the company also developed OFFLOAD, media arts festival on nature, sustainability and ecology (Bristol, 13th-16th September, 2007), with forthcoming OFFLOAD projects in development for 2008.