• SPILL FESTIVAL OF PERFORMANCE

• ON SPIRIT

• (2015)

Live • International •  Artist-led • London

SPILL Festival 2015 - On Spirit took place in London across 14 days. Made up of 100 events, it included a major SPILL Commission, Inextinguishable Fire by Cassils, and Written In Sand, Ribbon Gate and Shock Treatment by Karen Finley. The SPILL National Platform took place at the National Theatre Studio and Toynbee Studios, and the curation also included a SPILL Onscreen programme, SPILL Thinker in Residence (Topher Campbell), SPILL Think Tank programme, SPILL Writing, SPILL Feasts, and SPILL TV & Photography.

The theme of SPILL 2015 was Spirit. Held at sites across London, this edition spanned two weeks, with the theme manifesting in the vital force of an exceptional trilogy of works by seminal performance maker Karen Finley; in another trio of pieces presented by Zierle + Carter, where dying as an essential part of all nature was carefully held as a space of possibility; in Ria Hartley's invitation to remember; in Kris Canavan's purging procession Dredge, raising spirits in an act of defiance; and across the festival programme of SPILL Commissions, world premieres, radical performances, installations, onscreen works and Think Tank activities.

SPILL 2015 culminated with a very special final event - a treacherous fire stunt performed by Cassils, live onstage at the National Theatre - an action speaking directly to questions of responsibility, privilege and power.