Andy Field (born 1983) is an artist, writer, curator and academic based in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Biography

He has created and toured his own contemporary performance work in the UK and internationally. He is most well-known for the work he creates in collaboration with young people. His performance Lookout has toured to cities including Beijing, London, Vancouver, Cairo and Milan and in 2018 won the Spirit of the Fringe award at Auckland Fringe Festival in New Zealand. He regularly collaborates with producer Beckie Darlington and in 2021, their project The Book of St Helens, a guide-book to the town of St Helens created by 150 local primary school children, won the Liverpool City Region Culture and Creativity Impact Award for Improving Education. Andy is co-director of Forest Fringe, a multi award winning artist-led producing collective which originated in Bristo Hall at the

Forest Café The Forest, also referred to as Forest Café, was an independent social centre and arts centre located in central Edinburgh, Scotland. It was notable for being run by volunteers as a charitable, self-sustaining not-for-profit. The Forest was i ...

during the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of Arts festival, arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the ...

in 2007 and has since curated events, entitled "Microfestivals", in venues across the UK and Europe. Andy Field innovated The Travelling Sounds Library through Forest Fringe, a case of books containing audio-pieces by British Theatre artists, including

Blast Theory Blast Theory is an artists' group that specializes in work that mixes interactive media, digital broadcasting and live performance. Biography The group was founded in 1991 by Matt Adams, Niki Jewett, Will Kittow and Ju Row Farr. The group is c ...

and

Stan's Cafe Stan's Cafe is a theatre company based in Birmingham, United Kingdom, with a long track record in producing experimental theatre, installations and live art. Established in 1991, it has become "one of Britain's major contemporary theatre expo ...

which has travelled to venues throughout the UK. On their website Forest Fringe writes, "we try and serve as a bridge, finding imaginative ways to connect the country’s most innovative performance artists and theatremakers with new audiences, new supporters and new contexts for their work. " Forest Fringe also created a book of DIY performances to be read at the Edinburgh Festival called "Paper Stages", featuring performance texts by

Tim Etchells Tim Etchells (born 1962) is an English artist and writer based in Sheffield and London. Etchells is the artistic director of Forced Entertainment, an experimental performance company founded in 1984. He has published several works of fiction, ...

Bryony Kimmings Bryony Kimmings (born 30 March 1981) is a British live artist based in London and Cambridgeshire. She is an associate artist of the Soho Theatre, and, in 2016, was commissioned to write ''The Pacifist's Guide to the War on Cancer'' for Complici ...

and

Tania El Khoury Tania El Khoury (born 1982) is a Lebanese live artist. In 2017, she was winner of the ANTI – Contemporary Art Festival International Prize for Live Art, the only international award for live art, attracting a EUR30,000 prize. Her work has bee ...

. Readers could obtain a book by volunteering one hour at a local Edinburgh charity during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In 2009 he and Forest Fringe co-director

Deborah Pearson Deborah Pearson is a British, Hungarian and Canadian live artist, playwright, director, performer and curator based in London, U.K. and born in Toronto, Canada. She holds a practice-based PhD in narrative in contemporary performance from Royal Holl ...

were named in the Stage list of the 100 most influential people in British theatre. In 2022, Andy and Deborah Pearson co-directed the feature film Dream Agency, which premiered at the

Edinburgh International Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), established in 1947, is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all titles are World, international, European or UK Premieres), in al ...

. Between 2007 and 2011 he regularly wrote about art and experimental theatre for the Guardian Stage website. In 2020 he collaborated with the journalist Maddy Costa to write Performance in the Age of Precarity, a collection of essays on theatre and art for Bloomsbury. Field completed a practice-led PhD at

Exeter University The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School o ...

in 2012 exploring the relationship between contemporary performance practice and experimental art happenings in the 1960s and 1970s in New York.

Forest Fringe Awards

*Herald Angel, 2008 *Peter Brook Award Special Mention, 2008 *A special

Fringe First The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

shared with The Arches for Innovating new forms of presenting work at the Edinburgh Festival, 2009 *Jack Tinker Spirit of the Fringe Shortlist, 2009 * Peter Brook Empty Space Award, 2009 *Herald Angel, 2011

References

External links

Forest FringeAndy Field and Beckie Darlington
{{DEFAULTSORT:Field, Andy 1983 births Alumni of the University of Exeter British curators British theatre managers and producers Living people Artists from Stockport British artists