The people, streets, arcades and water flowing through the city are the source of this project led by the Brothers Quay, involving Leed's artists and arts organisations.
A month-long series of interventions, art ambushes of film, song, movement flowing through the city will culminate in spectacular events under the dark arches, in the city centre arcades and emporiums, bringing the river into the city, leading the city to the river.
The driving force of Leeds Canvas is a partnership between Opera North, Northern Ballet Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Phoenix Dance Theatre, Yorkshire Dance, Leeds Met Gallery and Studio Theatre, Situation Leeds, Leeds City Council, and Leeds Art Gallery, all of which are based in the city and work across the Yorkshire region.
Leeds Canvas 2012 is the first invitation, the first of many, every four years, a new date in the calendar.
See the shortlisted entries for this region and read about the judging panel
Born near Philadelphia in 1947, the Quays have lived in the UK since the late 1970s. Identical twins, they studied at the Philadelphia College of Art and then later at the Royal College of Art in London. They have influenced a generation of artists and are hugely respected for the integrity and consistency of their work. As well as making their own projects, they have collaborated widely with festivals, theatre directors, opera houses and choreographers, and are always in demand for their designs for live performance.
The Quays are most celebrated for their beautiful and enigmatic animated films, which often use a great deal of music and puppetry. Street of Crocodiles (1986), considered by many as their masterpiece, was acclaimed by director Terry Gilliam as one of the top ten animated films ever made.
They have also made documentaries on the composers Stravinsky and Janaček, as well as music videos and commercials, and live action films, including The PianoTuner of EarthQuakes (2006). They have just finished a short documentary film in Poland called Inventorium of Traces and are currently working on a short film for the Polish Cultural Institute in London on a short story by Stanisĺaw Lem called Maska.
They have a distinguished history in large-scale theatre, dance and opera. Their work with the celebrated theatre company Complicite earned them a Tony Award nomination in 1998, and most recently they designed the ballet Pinocchio and Wind in the Willows with choreographer Will Tuckett for the Royal Opera (ROH2) and Richard Ayres’s contemporary opera The Cricket Recovers for Aldeburgh and the Almeida Opera Festival. Their work also includes decors for opera and theatre productions and directing for Channel 4.
Tate Modern commissioned from them a film based on Steve Martland’s Street Songs and for the Wellcome Trust they made The Phantom Museum which was shown at the British Museum. They have completed installation pieces and exhibitions nationally and internationally.