David Cotterrell: Visual Artist, Projection/Set/ Design
David is an installation artist working across varied media including video, audio, interactive media, artificial intelligence, device control and hybrid technology. His work exhibits political, social and behavioral analyses of the environments and contexts, which he and his work inhabit.
Over the last ten years, his work has been extensively commissioned and exhibited in North America, Europe and the Far East, in gallery spaces, museums and within the public realm. Recent exhibitions include: Eastern Standard: Western Artists in China at MASS MoCA, Massachusetts, War and Medicine at the Wellcome Collection, London and Map Games at the Today Museum of Modern Art, Beijing and Birmingham City Art Gallery.
David is Professor of Fine Art at Sheffield Hallam University and has been a consultant to strategic masterplans, cultural and public art policy for urban regeneration, healthcare and growth areas. He is represented by Danielle Arnaud contemporary art and is currently researching and developing new work with advanced simulation company Rockwell Collins, with the support of an Arts Council England fellowship.
Walter Meierjohann: Theatre Director and Director Assistance
Walter Meierjohann is currently Associate Director at the Young Vic Theatre in London.
He was born in 1971 in Amsterdam to German parents and spent his childhood in Holland, America and Germany. Between 1995 and 1999 he studied directing at the renowned Ernst Busch School of Dramatic Art in Berlin and spent a year at St Hugh’s College, Oxford. His first pieces of work were as Resident Director at the Theatre of Jena z. B. BAAL /Brecht and then as a guest at various state ensembles throughout Germany where he directed a varied repertoire: His productions include: The Broken Jug, Kleist, in Rostock; mary stuart, Schiller, in Luebeck; Death Of A Salesman, Miller, in Mainz; Devised commissions in the Sophiensaele and Maxim Gorki Theatre in Berlin. In 2002, he was asked by Peter Stein to direct Thorton Wilder’s, A Long Christmas Dinner with Stein’s Ensemble in Berlin and in the same year, he was nominated for a festival award for his production of The Just by Camus. From 2004 to 2005 Walter was the Artistic Director of NEUBAU, the contemporary international line of the State Theatre of Dresden. Since then he has committed himself to two productions a year in Dresden: A Long Days Journey Into Night, O’Neill; People Next Door, Adams. His most recent production, Ink Heart by Cornelia Funke officially brought the 1000 seat State Theatre of Dresden the best audience figures of the last 15 years. In Opera, Walter has assisted Klaus-Michael Grueber in his productions of AIDA Nederlands Opera, Amsterdam and Don Giovanni Ruhrfestspiele Alongside his theatre work, Walter has produced Radio Plays for National Radio and translated new plays for stage and screen. He also taught continuously at the Ernst Busch Academy in Berlin.
In 2007 he joined the Young Vic as International Associate Director. He will be directing the European premiere of In The Red And Brown Water by Tarell McCraney in autumn 2008 on the main stage of the Young Vic. In spring 2009, Walter will be directing Kafka’s Monkey, a new adaptation of Franz Kafka’s Report To An Academy, starring award-winning actress Kathryn Hunter.
Petra Tauscher: Dramaturg
Petra Tauscher is an actor and writer. She spent 8 years in professional theatre in Berlin (Berlin Ensemble, Peter Stein Ensemble) after graduating from New College, Oxford in 1995. On her return to the UK, she has developed plays and scripts for theatre, Television and Film. She is currently developing a slate of factually based films for London film company, Atlantic Productions, and her current theatre projects include: The Gita Sowerby Project for Northern Stage and The Wall Project – a commemoration for the 20th Anniversary of the fall of Berlin wall. Petra has collaborated with director Walter Meierjohann for several years. Previous collaborations as writer and dramaturg include: The Bell Jar, Amour Fou and and Tales of Common Insanity.
Annie Mahtani: Composer
Annie Mahtani is a composer and member of BEAST (Birmingham Electro Acoustic Theatre) and in the final part of her PhD in Musical Composition (Electro acoustic) at University of Birmingham. Her work includes collaborating with Rosie Kay Dance Company composing for Supernova for the East and West Midlands Tour Autumn 08- Spring 09, Touchwood (The Place), Choreodrome (The Place) both 2007, and composing for Asylum (National touring, Dance Umbrella, created 2004/05). Other works include
The Glasshouse (2006), a multi-channel sound installation for a theatre performance in a disused glass factory. Commissioned by Kindle Theatre Company. Moving Sculpture (2005-2006) a collaboration with choreographer Marguerite Carauna Galiza, premiered at The Place, London as part of Resolution! 2006. Curzon Street Station (2004), Urban Clatter composed for dance installation. Commissioned by Birmingham University Fringe Theatre Group, Sounding The Black Country (2004). Community based sound installation exploring towns and lives in Sandwell and the Black Country, commissioned by The Public community arts organisation. Concerts include 25 Years of Beast, Birmingham, Jan 2008, Idiophone (8 channel) Jan 2007, Invisible Arts, Birmingham, March 2007; Sound Junction, Sheffield, May 2007, Cidade Maravilhosa (Stereo) 2006, Voyages Sonores, Birmingham, March 2006; ICMC, New Orleans, Nov 2006, Ejszaka (Stereo) 2005, Resounding, Birmingham, March 2005; real-time / non real-time, Basel, Switzerland, June 2005; Aix-en-Musique, Aix en Provence, France, June 2005; ÉuCuE Series XXIII, Montreal, Canada, Oct 2005, Surfacing (Stereo) 2003, Canada, Oct 2003, De Natura Sonorum, Birmingham, March 2004; ÉuCuE Series XXIII, Montreal, Canada, Oct 2005; 3rd Acousmatic Festival of Cagliari, Sardinia, June 2006Birmingham University Summer Festival of Music, June 2003; ÉuCuE Series XXII Montreal.
