Creative Producer for David Hoyle: Please Feel Free To Ignore My Work,
10–28 April 2024, Factory International. Manchester.
David Hoyle is one of my favourite artists of all time, one of the most significant artists of a generation, making this a milestone project in my life, and a pinnacle of visibility for David's work too. It represented the largest gathering of his creative life in one place, culminating in the largest theatre show of David's career.
David, myself, and Creative Director Lee Baxter developed the show for over two years, conceptualising it as a part-retrospective, / part-occupation of the new Factory International space. David's life at the fringes of the art world, whilst also being immeasurably influential, gives his work a unique place in the culture and we wanted to reflect that in the nature of the show.
Visual art was hung in banners from the ceiling, played inside toilets, projected onto floors, stuck onto glass doors, and displayed on security fencing in a listed Victorian archway behind a vast smiling face of David on giant curtains. The architectural intervention of the work reflected David's desire to break into a perceived artistic world where he might be valued, all the life critiquing the same world from its fringes.
David's residency also included live art-making, an alternative performative pub quiz, an in-conversation event with David and myself about David's film and television work, as well as bespoke 'souvenirs' – artworks that people could purchase and take home.
The show closed with 'David Hoyle: Still Got It...!?' a revue-style spectacular for an audience of 1200 featuring guest artists and a narrated journey through David's life and career. New musical interpretations, contemporary dance, cabaret, game-show and vaudeville all came together, climaxing with a vintage double decker bus taking the artists away into the night.
Here is some of the blurb from the project:
For three gloriously unpredictable weeks, David Hoyle breaches Aviva Studios with a dazzling showcase of his work to date. Part retrospective, part takeover, Please Feel Free to Ignore My Work is a celebration of Hoyle’s prolific output from the stage to the screen to the canvas.
A chance to immerse yourself in Hoyle’s world, get to know the Manchester artist through rarely seen paintings, slogan works and new commissions on display in the Social – where Hoyle also takes over our digital screens – as well as screenings of his iconic television appearances and films, all brought together for the very first time.
Can’t get enough? Dig even deeper with a series of riotous, avant-garde events – featuring talks, live painting and a classic pub quiz all hosted by Hoyle. Bringing the takeover to a climax is the spectacular finale David Hoyle: Still Got It? – an end-of-the-pier variety show from hell. Brace yourself for plenty of anarchic surprises along the way.
As a cabaret star, actor and visual artist, Hoyle’s infamous alter-ego ‘The Divine David’ transported him from radical alternative settings in the '80s to the studios of Channel 4 in the '90s. For the last four decades, Hoyle has queered the boundaries between live art, performance, theatre and cabaret – conquering nightlife around the world and working extensively in film and TV.
Please Feel Free to Ignore My Work brings together key themes that run through Hoyle’s output: gender, mental health, AIDS, revolution, decadence and the effects of capitalism. Tracing his career from the '80s to the present day, this body of work asks how and why we value our art and artists.
Ever the outsider, David Hoyle opens the door to his outrageous and moving world. Come on in, we’ll pop the kettle on.