Motiroti

motiroti was a London based organisation which used the arts to achieve intercultural innovation. Since the mid-1990s the company made internationally acclaimed and award winning art that transformed relationships between people, communities and spaces. motiroti worked at the forefront of ever-changing global social realities, challenging and teasing perceptions of artists, institutions and audiences alike.

Working with a range of collaborators within visual and live art, new technology and socially engaged practice, motiroti made public art with the public itself being central to the making and shaping of the work, using emerging social technologies to incorporate multiple perspectives within artworks. The company fostered the development of a lifelong learning culture, with learning and art production part of the same process, and offered potent opportunities to inspire and develop a dynamic exchange between artists and communities.

History

Motiroti means 'fat bread' in Urdu, and the company took its name from one of its earliest projects, Moti Roti Puttli Chunni - a playful examination of gender stereotypes, presented as live Bollywood musical theatre in east London. Co-founded by artists Ali Zaidi and Keith Khan, motiroti was officially registered as a charity in 1996, although the pair had worked together since the late 1980s. Khan left the company in 2004 to become CEO of the Rich Mix Cultural Foundation.[1] Ali Zaidi continued as the sole Artistic Director until 2012, when he left to establish his own independent company, Ali Zaidi Arts. motiroti was thereafter led by Executive Director Tim Jones, who joined the company in 2010, and following its closure operates as an independent consultant and workshop designer, advising on the development of enterprise opportunities and digital capacity in the culture sector.

Details of motiroti projects, from the early 1990s onwards, can be viewed online here. A catalogued archive of its work from the late 1980s up to 2005 is owned by Future Histories, the UK's first dedicated repository for African, Asian and Caribbean performing arts, and its contents can be viewed here.

motiroti presented works in many countries, at venues such as Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol;[2] Barbican Centre, London;[3] Bonn Biennale;[4] Brooklyn Academy of Music;[5] Edinburgh Festival; Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro de Bogota;[6] Greenwich Theatre; Harbour Front Centre, Toronto; Houston International Festival; Institute of Contemporary Arts, London;[7] Ikon Gallery, Birmingham; It's Queer Up North,[8] Manchester; Kannonhallen, Denmark; Krannert Center, Illinois;[9] La Ferme du Buisson, France; Leeds Mela; London International Festival of Theatre; Lille 3000; Melbourne Festival;[10] Midlands Arts Centre; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Museum of London; National College of Arts, Lahore; National Gallery, Cape Town; National Theatre, Islamabad; Natural History Museum, London; New Art Gallery, Walsall; New Haven Festival of Arts and Ideas; Notting Hill Carnival; Oval House Theatre, London; Queen Elizabeth Hall, London; REDCAT, Los Angeles;[11] Romaeuropa Festival, Italy; Royal Albert Hall, London; Royal Court Theatre, London; Royal Festival Hall, London; Royal Geographical Society with IGB,[12] London; Royal National Theatre, London; Science Museum,[13] London; Serpentine Gallery, London;[14] Sibikwa Theatre, Johannesburg; Singapore Arts Festival; Tamaseel Theatre, Lahore; Tate Liverpool; Tate Modern; Theatre Royal Stratford East; Tramway Theatre, Glasgow;[15] V&A;[16] Warwick Arts Centre;[17] West Yorkshire Playhouse; Whitney Museum,[18] New York.

Notable productions

Notable collaborators

Mina Anwar,[23] Christophe Berthonneau, Sonia Boyce,[24] dbox,[25] Shahram Entekhabi,[26] Guillermo Gómez-Peña,[27] Shobna Gulati,[28] Pen Hadow,[29] Indira Joshi,[30] Isaac Julien, Akram Khan,[28] Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan,[31] Jamila Massey,[32] Robin Rimbaud,[33] Sunetra Sarker,[34] Shri,[35] Jasmine Simhalan,[36] Talvin Singh,[37] Nina Wadia,[23] Benjamin Zephaniah. Nila Madhab Panda,[38] Shalalae Jamil,[38] Daniel Saul.[39]

References

  1. ↑ Biography of Keith Khan on Live Art Development Agency website. Thisisliveart.co.uk (13 April 2007). Retrieved on 19 October 2011.
  2. ↑ reference to Flying Costumes, Floating Tombs on Bristol University website
  3. ↑ Barbican Centre Annual Report 2003/04
  4. ↑ http://www.netzeitung.de/feuilleton/kulturnews/290555.html Article about Alladeen from Netzeitung
  5. ↑ http://www.villagevoice.com/theater/0350,sellar,49306,11.html Review of Alladeen from the Village Voice
  6. ↑ http://www.teatroenmiami.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=448&mode=&order=0&thold=0 Article about Alladeen from Teatro Mundial
  7. ↑ Reference to ''Wigs of Wonderment'' season at the ICA. Newaudiences.org.uk. Retrieved on 19 October 2011.
  8. ↑ Description of the exhibition Fluid at It's Queer Up North on [http://www.motiroti.com/ motiroti.com Archived 12 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ http://www.news.uiuc.edu/NEWS/05/0415calendar.html Reference to Alladeen season on University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign website
  10. ↑ http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com/2004/10/miaf-alladeen-and-failing-kansas.html Review of Alladeen from Theatre Notes blog
  11. ↑ REDCAT website Archived 12 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ↑ Information about ''Priceless'' exhibition on Culture24. Culture24.org.uk (11 August 2006). Retrieved on 19 October 2011.
  13. ↑ http://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/lon/acv/bku/2006/en1355567.htm Information about Priceless exhibition on Goethe-Institut website
  14. ↑ http://www.timeout.com/london/park_night/3189/motiroti.html Time Out website
  15. ↑ http://www.edinburghguide.com/aande/theatre/reviews/a/alladeen_motirotibuildersassoc.shtmlReview of Alladeen from EdinburghGuide.com
  16. ↑ http://www.vam.ac.uk/files/file_upload/30737_file.doc Department for Culture, Media and Sport/V&A funding agreement 2005/06 – 2007/08 referencing the Priceless exhibition with motiroti
  17. ↑ http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/news/ne100000008680/ Information about Alladeen at the Warwick Arts Centre from University of Warwick website
  18. ↑ http://whitney.domanidev.com/exhibition/americaneffect.shtml Information about The American Effect exhibition from Whitney Museum's website
  19. ↑ http://www.360degrees.tv/ 360° website
  20. ↑ Article about Alladeen from the New York Times (30 November 2003). Retrieved on 19 October 2011.
  21. ↑ http://www.culture.gov.uk/Reference_library/Press_notices/archive_2006/dcms016_06.htm Biography of Keith Khan on Department for Culture, Media and Sport website referencing Celebration Commonwealth
  22. ↑ ''Performing Identity in the Digital Age'' by Rhiannon Armstrong from [http://www.csa.com/ CSA website. Csa.com. Retrieved on 19 October 2011.
  23. 1 2 Cast list for Moti Roti, Puttli Chunni from [http://www.motiroti.com/ motiroti.com Archived 31 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  24. ↑ Information about the ''Plain Magic'' project from New Audiences website. Newaudiences.org.uk. Retrieved on 19 October 2011.
  25. ↑ http://www.asiansinmedia.org/news/article.php/events/1456 Article about screening of motiroti/dbox collaboration cutout II from Asians In Media website
  26. ↑ Description of ''Fresh Azan'', a collaboration between Shahram Entekhabi and motiroti from Entekhabi's website. Entekhabi.org. Retrieved on 19 October 2011.
  27. ↑ http://213.161.73.222/news/news074 Information on masterclass with Guillermo Gomez-Pena on inIVA website
  28. 1 2 Information about The Seed, The Root from [http://www.motiroti.com motiroti.com Archived 12 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  29. ↑ Testimonial from Pen Hadow's website Archived 29 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  30. ↑ Cast list for One Night from [http://www.motiroti.com motiroti.com Archived 10 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  31. ↑ Information on Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in Concert from [http://www.motiroti.com/ motiroti.com Archived 12 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  32. ↑ Cast list for Moti Roti, Puttli Chunni Archived 31 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  33. ↑ Information about ''Plain Magic'' project from New Audiences website. Newaudiences.org.uk. Retrieved on 19 October 2011.
  34. ↑ Cast list for One Night from [http://www.motiroti.com/ motiroti.com Archived 10 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  35. ↑ http://www.wexarts.org/info/press/db/119_nr-alladeen_elec.pdf Press release for Alladeen from Wexner Center for the Arts website
  36. ↑ http://redcat.org/about/press/2.12.04alladeen.html Press release for Alladeen from REDCAT website
  37. ↑ Information about the Anokha project from [http://www.motiroti.com/ motiroti.com Archived 10 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  38. 1 2 https://web.archive.org/20080219073017/http://www.motiroti.com:80/work/projects/current.php?data_id=60. Archived from the original on 19 February 2008. Retrieved 8 November 2008. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  39. ↑ https://web.archive.org/20080404002042/http://www.motiroti.com:80/work/projects/project.php?data_id=53. Archived from the original on 4 April 2008. Retrieved 8 November 2008. Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links on the UK web archive

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