Derick Armah
Dream Space, FACTORY INTERNATIONAL
Season Three
An arts podcast from Factory International, the body behind the world-renowned Manchester International Festival. Hosted by Gemma Cairney, the series asks musicians, artists, film directors and theatre practitioners to imagine their ‘dream space’: a new vision that asks what kind of art the world needs now, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. With sound design by Solomon King, Dream Space is an immersive, transformative listen.
I produced Season 3’s episodes with visual artist Juliet Ellis and presenter and curator Mary-Anne Hobbs, conducting initial research, taking briefing calls, scripting episodes, recording them, then ultimately editing them into their final forms. For Juliet’s episode in particular, I triangulated a three-way international recording session through Riverside, between Juliet in Harlem, Gemma in Edinburgh, and myself as the intermediary, in London.
With Juliet, “the sky-like mind” is explored, a Buddhist-inspired outlook and state of being that transcends the limits we impose on our creative and practical realities.
With Mary-Anne, a “culture forecast” is imagined, the outcome of an ideal world in which systems of inequality are flipped, giving young artists the chance to create whatever they want, wherever they want.
Other artists in the season include genre-defining artist Marina Abramović, writer Max Porter, jazz composer and saxaphonist Nubya Garcia and Arsenal footballer Lotte Wubben-Moy.
Listen to the series here.