Action Hero (UK): Oh Europa
Oh Europa is a labour of love; a project that spans a continent and cuts straight to the heart.
Since 2018, artists Gemma Paintin & James Stenhouse (who work together under the name Action Hero) have been travelling through Europe, asking strangers to sing a love song. So far, Gemma & James have recorded the voices of over a thousand people, singing about love and heartbreak in 46 different languages. They have travelled over 50,000km through 33 European countries, spending more than 300 days and nights on the road living in their van, which doubles as a mobile recording studio.
In September 2022, they will make a special journey between Homo Novus festival in Riga and ANTI festival in Kuopio, recording the voices of people who live along the route singing about love. Using these recordings, they will create a bespoke digital radio broadcast designed to accompany other travellers as they journey between the two cities as part of Festival’s Path in 2023.
Oh Europa is co-produced with Farnham Maltings. Co-commissioned by Transform, Matchbox and Farnham Maltings. Action Hero are a National Portfolio Organisation of Arts Council England.
Action Hero
Action Hero is the collaboration between artists Gemma Paintin and James Stenhouse. Together they create artworks that expand across multiple creative practices: performance, installation, sound, digital practice and work for public space. Their ongoing interests lie in the iconography of popular culture and its use; both as a weapon and as a shared cultural memory and the languages/texts that are used to talk about these shared spaces. They have toured their work to over 40 countries across 5 continents.
Action Hero is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. They are members of artist collectives Residence, The Brunswick Club and are long-time collaborators of Forest Fringe. They live in Bristol, UK.
@ActionHeroLive
http://www.actionhero.org.uk