Books and DVDs

(be)longing (2007)

DVD | 35 mm, colour | A film by Curious | Length:10 minutes | ISBN: 978-0-9524337-5-0
A ten minute documentary made in collaboration with the NSPCC and a group of inspiring African teenagers who were brought or trafficked into the UK but overcame desperate situations and, with incredible will, built new lives for themselves in London. Now in college, fluent in English, with dreams of going to university, the girls face deportation on their 18th birthdays under current Home Office rules. The films asks them what they long for and where they feel they belong.

Performance & Place (2006)

Book | Curious - Leslie Hill & Helen Paris | Published by Palgrave Macmillan | April 2006 | ISBN 1-4039-4504-7
Featuring a mix of both practitioners and scholars, this book explores the sites of contemporary performance and the notion of place. It examines how we experience performance's many and varied sites as part of the fabric of the art work itself, whether they are institutional or transient, real or online. Half of the essays are by artists who speak directly from their own experience of placing performance outside of conventional spaces; half are by academics who reflect critically on place and placelessness. This publication is also available direct from the publisher www.palgrave.com
 

Lost & Found (2005)

DVD | Filmed on location at Lost Property, Baker Street; the Black Country, West Midlands and Shanghai, China | Length: 39 minutes
Three films exploring the volatile, capricious nature of change in three very different environments (39 minutes total). In Lost Property, an enigmatic woman whose favourite words are adhesive, sellotape, super glue and safety pin tries to come to terms with the difference between being lost and being left. In Lost & Found, Black Country locals reflect on their sense of place and the breakdown of community in an area of significant regeneration. In Red Lantern House, a recently arrived American notices a woman living in a partially demolished house on a massive development site in Shanghai. The film captures the final days of the Red Lantern House and the beginning of an unlikely friendship.

Essences of London (2004)

DVD | Filmed on location in the London boroughs of Brent, Hackney, Lambeth, Newham and Tower Hamlets | Length: 90 minutes
A 90 minute composite portrait of London which captures the essences of city life through the sense of smell. Hundreds of Londoners were interviewed about their personal smell associations including workers in ‘aromatic’ trades such as cobblers, fishmongers, florists, bakers, chemists and refuse collectors. Also includes full length documentation of On the Scent, a live performance by Leslie Hill, Helen Paris and Lois Weaver presented in private homes exploring the elusive connections between smell and memory.

The Guerilla Guide To Performance Art : How To Make A Living As An Artist (2002)

Book | Published by Continuum | 2nd Edition 2004 | ISBN 0-8264-7398-9
Written by artists, for artists, the Guerilla Guide is designed for people engaged in creating original performance work including live art, installation, digital art and hybrids of theatre and visual art. Although there is no 'how to' for this kind of work, no clearly defined 'industry', this book stares unflinchingly into the headlights of the oncoming question: how do you make a living as an artist? It offers an invaluable collection of individual experiences and strategies from veteran artists and administrators, including Bobby Baker, Tim Miller, Guillermo Gomez Pena, Stelarc, Lois Weaver and Martha Wilson.

Full bibliography of books and articles by Hill and Paris >> see publication page