Tim Etchells / Forced Entertainment
Tim Etchells is an artist and a writer based in the UK. He has worked in a wide variety of contexts, notably as the leader of the world-renowned performance group Forced Entertainment and in collaboration with a range of visual artists, choreographers and performance makers. In recent years Etchells has exhibited widely in the context of visual arts, with solo shows in London, Bremen, Krakow and Ljubljana as well as projects in the biennales Manifesta 7 (2008) in Rovereto, Italy, Art Sheffield 2008, Goteborg Bienale (2009), October Salon Belgrade (2010), Aichi Trienale, Japan 2010, with Vlatka Horvat and Manifesta 9 (Parallel Projects) 2012. Etchells' first novel The Broken World was published by Heinemann in 2008 and his monograph on contemporary performance and Forced Entertainment, Certain Fragments (Routledge 1999) is widely acclaimed. Recent publications include Vacuum Days (Storythings, 2012), While You Are With Us Here Tonight (LADA, 2013). He was Legacy: Thinker in Residence (2009 - 2010) at Tate Research and Live Art Development Agency in London and Visiting Honorary Professor, School of Arts, Roehampton University (2010 - 2012) and Professor of Performance at Sheffield University 2011 - 2012. In 2013 he became Professor of Performance at Lancaster University.
For more information see www.timetchells.com
Forced Entertainment is a performance group founded in 1984 and based in
Sheffield. Since its beginnings the group has created dozens of critically acclaimed
performance works that have been shown at major festivals and theatres around
the world.
The core group comprises Tim Etchells (Artistic Director), Robin Arthur, Richard
Lowdon: (Designer), Claire Marshall, Cathy Naden and Terry O'Connor.
Forced Entertainment has had a huge impact on the development of a uniquely
British style of avant-garde performance and their work is now included as part of
the theatrical canon to students studying contemporary performance in the UK and
much further afield. Taking a cue from their provocative name, Forced
Entertainment's work is often concerned with the mechanics of the live event -
disrupting conventions and expectations associated with attending a theatrical
performance.