People, Place and Porosity: 15 Years of Small Acts

Celebrating 15 years of Small Acts, Katie Etheridge and Simon Persighetti open a series of doors into ways of creatively exploring the deep, fascinating, complex and sometimes contradictory interrelationships between people and places.

Objects, images and souvenirs from Small Acts projects will illustrate a selection of micro interventions that feed the imagination, spark new connections, invite participation and pose the question; how can smallacts make a big difference?

During the first Compass Festival of Live Art in 2011, Katie and Simon spent a freezing November day on Leeds Bridge, transferring views, textures and details of the bridge onto the hands of passersby. This small intimate act, blurring the edges between street and skin, was the beginning of an artistic collaboration between Etheridge and Persighetti that grew into Small Acts.

15 years on, Small Acts reflect on the role that Leeds and Compass Live Art have played in the development of their socially engaged practice, and explore some of the projects and relationships that have emerged from this enduring collaboration with the city.