Animal Party: Victoria Works event showcases Sheffield creatives
A new day-to-night party aims to marry music and the visual arts, with DJs and live performers sharing space with painters, sculptors and filmmakers.
Animal Party takes place from midday until midnight on 15 February at Victoria Works, a new community-led art space in Kelham Island.
"The inspiration comes from my love of making art and mixing music," organiser Heliya Badakhshan told Now Then. "I make sculptures and DJ electronic music, so I wanted to combine these two together."
Thomas Lee Griffiths, Bronwyn Wilkinson and Gillian Brent are among the 20 visual artists taking part. Tickets are £8.
"I want people to come in and forget about the outside world for a few hours, and experience with their senses and their body," said Badakhshan.
"It's very important for me, now that we are most of the time connected to our phones and laptops, to engage with our bodies."
Octavia and Trinity 45 will both perform live, with DJ sets from Eckied Lad, DJ Decent and Dark Forest, among others.
Unlike at the first edition of Animal Party, the art and music will share the same space. The idea is reminiscent of 80s artist Keith Haring, who often chose to exhibit his work in New York nightclubs rather than galleries.
It's very important [...] to engage with our bodies
Badakhshan has worked with light technician Richard Gillett to create a space "appropriate to the art and music."
"There'll be some woven art works hanging in the space to the floor. There'll be some sculptures with lights in them, we have two performers who will perform during the whole event, and we also have specially-made sculptures that interact with the UV light."
Badakhshan, who works from a studio at Yorkshire Artspace, has drawn support from across Sheffield's artistic community to launch Animal Party.
"It's a great feeling when you go to an event that is entirely done by friends," she said. "Even the food is going to be done by a friend - everything involved in this event is made by us. This allows me to curate the space and sound and be creative."
Sam Gregory
