Mothership Collective
2006 South London Gallery, London, UK

Harold Offeh’s ‘The Mothership Collective’ invited fellow artists, dancers and musicians to create an installation and performances with members of the public, inspired by the music of George Clinton and Sun-Ra. Grand funkster George Clinton’s P-Funk performances of the seventies, aimed to raise issues of black consciousness. The P-Funk performances were characterized by alien space clothing, cosmic slogans and the adoption of outer space icons in which the ‘mothership’ played a central part.

The workshops at SLG allowed members of the public to record their own funk track, become an alien in Peckham for a day, find their intergalactic soul mate with Ming Wong’s Intergalactic Speed Dating, meditate in Ansuman Biswas’ Inner Space Meditation, write a science fiction story, or make their own alien video message. As the weeks unfolded, work from each event was added to Offeh’s art installation, bringing together a show that uses ideas of Sci-fi and the alien as analogies to undermine and question cultural, racial and social values.

Participating artists included:
With Åbäke, Jamika Ajalon, Barby Asante & Andrea Encinas, Ansuman Biswas, David Blandy, Eloïse Calandre, Gayle Chong Kwan, Carl Clerkin, Charlie Dark, Kodwo Eshun, Martino Gamper, Intoart, Anthony Joseph, Lambeth Band of Solidarity, Harun Morrison & Helen Walker, Harold Offeh, Olivia Plender & Paul Richards, Julian Roberts, Urban Classicism, and Ming Wong.

Photo credit: Nicola Dracoulis
Flyer design by Åbäke