Akleriah

Akleriah in the Independent

2011-04-18T00:58:00.000-07:00

Akleriah took part in exciting online project Think Work Play

http://think-work-play.com/think-akleriah/ which looks at the process of making as well as the final outcome. Check it out!

The project (with a picture of us) was featured in the Independent recently.

Artists Meet Artists at Debut Contemporary

2011-04-05T00:59:00.001-07:00

Please RSVP!

we would love your glorious company on this lovely Wednesday night!

In line with Akleriah.

2011-03-29T13:37:00.000-07:00

Akleriah was thrilled to have performed at the launch of the Debut Contemporary on 2nd of March.
Akleriah is very excited to be part of this exciting project/laboratory for emerging artists worldwide.
Check out http://www.debutcontemporary.com

Christmas with Akleriah

2011-01-04T14:14:00.000-08:00

Akleriah celebrated Christmas with a little singalong wearing red and feathers. We sung 'Fly me to the Moon' far too many times, as well as a favourite's selection from Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Cats ' and 'Phantom of the Opera'. We had a glorious time among family and friends in the snowy Woodford village of Northamptonshire. Not many bunnies, (or people alike) we went to see the dead at the local graveyard to make them feel less alone at Christmas. Alla and Anton did some amazing cooking while we tried (successfully) to dress up Jason. We send you our bestest wishes for the coming year and hope to see you soon at one of our upcoming performances.
Photographs by Jason Wen

please vote for Akleriah to be artist of the year!

2010-11-17T09:00:00.000-08:00

http://saloncontemporary.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=410&Itemid=269
it only takes 2 clicks! we need you!
we are super excited about the exhibition at Salon Contemporary, private view is on 1st Dec, it runs from 2nd Dec to 3rd Jan. http://saloncontemporary.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=384%3Aartists-of-the-week-christmas-show&catid=39%3Afuture-exhibitions&Itemid=143 come and see our show! we are not doing live performance, instead showing a video and physical objects - carpets from lenka, drawings and costumes from Anna.
heres some pictures by OutRAJious Curry of a guided tour we did at Salon Contemporary First Wednesdays event on 3rd of Nov. Cold but great fun!

we're artist of the week!

2010-09-02T07:41:00.000-07:00

http://saloncontemporaryartistoftheweek.blogspot.com/ check it out!

Akleriah has been chosen as artist of the week by Salon Contemporary.
Our performance at Tate Britain went well, here's a few pictures:

review of Coglenet by Pamela Yau

2010-06-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

Coglenet

On The East London Line

By Pamela Yau

On the lazy Sunday afternoon of May 23rd, as London welcomed the opening of the East London Line, an extension of the London Overground connecting Croydon to Hackney, a colorful collective of performance artists, musicians, and dancers known as Akleriah waited to board at New Cross Station on the edge of Goldsmiths College’s campus.

Led by two Goldsmiths College art students Anna Kompaniets and Lenka Horakovas, Akleriah is a motley crew of multi-talented and slightly off the wall performers that aimed to excite all the senses of their unsuspecting audience in one fell swoop, with inspired music, original poetry, contemporary dance, and quirky couture costumes.

As the story goes, on the 31^st of March 2010, while their friend Ryanai (Ryan Murray) was abducted by aliens, an alien known as Cogle appeared to Ankariah (Anna) and Lenkariah (Lenka) reciting poetry about the reunion of aliens and earthlings. Ryanai was later returned to his friends, bringing with him poetry that would be recited in celebration of the reunion on the 23^rd of May, the opening day of the new East London Line. The opening is symbolic of new connections being made by the East London Line, as it literally connects parts of London for the first time that had never been connected before, making it easier for denizens to move about and to ultimately connect with one another as the aliens and humans had in Cogle’s story.

To translate this elaborate storyline to what happened on the day, Anna and Lenka gathered their collective together to come up with a collaborative piece entitled Coglenet that would incorporate performance artists as well as musicians and dancers. The musicians included two guitarists, a classical violinist, and an African drummer, came together to compose original pieces specifically for this performance as dancer Omari Carter interpreted the incidental music through improvisation and contemporary dance. In a corresponding act, the artists recited poems by poet Clodagh Allerfeldt, the poems themselves were intertwined and were meant to be recited together in turn for the full effect. They would then take this act to the stations and train carriages of the East London Line.

Passengers would probably notice when they gets on the new London Overground trains that the new carriages are slightly wider and that passengers can walk from one end of the train to the other without obstruction. As beauty is in the eye of the beholder, to Akleriah, this continuous aisle becomes stage that needs to be filled with their art.

Now imagine as a passenger getting on a train carriage and being greeted or rather bombarded by an all encompassing experience of fashion, music, dance, and titillating all the senses, the sight, sound, touch, and even smell of the perfume of the performers.

Their performance took Akleriah from New Cross Station to West Croydon, during which they performed on the train as well as at both stations to the wonder of commuters and passersby. As the band played, Omari Carter danced with fluid and imaginative movements and would later demonstrate an ingenious use of the space of the train cars, utilizing the many surfaces of the carriage, along with the handholds and poles of the carriage, at times suspending himself upside down during the routine and continuing to dance in that position. An all-female contingent dressed to the nines recited poetry up and down the aisles, as the musicians stuck together at one end of the train.

During the day, Akleriah was also able to make their way to the other end of the East London Line to Shoreditch High Street Station, where they commanded the main foyer of the station and continued their act before boarding the train again for New Cross.

Unsuspecting passengers quickly came to embrace the performance as many pulled out their mobiles and IPhones to record the action. Some of the most enthusiastic viewers were families with their children, who gravitated towards and performers as if they had fallen under a spell. Akleriah was able to radiate an infectious sense of wonder throughout their performance that they projected to their audience, bringing people together through their enjoyment of the show.

The collective projected a “carpe diem”, seize the day, attitude to the travelers of the East London Line, as Akleriah was able to show a train ride can be anything but ordinary.

Poetry for our sunday performance

2010-05-19T02:04:00.000-07:00

Anna appears in the Guardian online

2010-05-08T12:06:00.000-07:00

Our lovely Anna Kompaniets was spotted at Alternative London Fashion week last month. Click here for more.

A week in Akleriah life

2010-04-13T10:17:00.000-07:00

We've had a fabulous week with many a fabulous personality. We met up with Clodagh, Bettina and Jaime at Prince Albert - a local shabby chic styled venue with a surprisingly interesting decor. We talked collaborating, hopefully in July, with Jaime and Bettina, random nonsence and the recently deceased Alexander McQueen. We had a lovely time at Anna's house drinking cherry cocktails followed by a slightly hangover morning and lunch with Clodagh. Anna decided to starve diet yet again but did not succeed instead opting to do the famous 'cake diet' that keeps her in shape so well.

We blew bubbles day and night (literally) outside and inside, on the streets, on the stations, in shopping centres... Everywhere! It's really fun! Later on in the week we acquired some really large bubble sword things which were even more entertaining..

We went to see Omari an amazing break dancer who has also been trained in classical ballet at the Young Actors Theatre,we are hoping that he will perform at our next event. Our gorgeous Nino was playing at Shunt this weekend, what I think they call 'jam' in musician language. We went to see him and Nahum play. There we met the sweetest David and had a scrumptious time meeting some great people, some of whom we hope to work with in the future. And of course there were bubbles!
On Saturday we carried furniture for Anna's degree show - Lenka carried 3 chairs at the same time! We had a little picnik on New Cross road because the furniture was pretty heavy... but at least the day was nice.

On Sunday we had a great rehearsal of music for the upcoming event with some new musicians Asiere, Eiko, Souleymane. They rehearsed for many hours with Nino, while Jason took some video clips.The music is sounding gentle and poetic, like a blend of cherry blossom and mimosa - an intriguing melody that occassionally flows to the Far East and sometimes to the clublands of Ibiza with sudden folk references.

The highlight of the week was Lenka and Eva's Birthday on Monday. Eva hosted a 'grass and bubbles' themed party at her flat while Daria made delishious mohito's and 'Daria's own'coffee mix. It was very nice to dance on fresh grass and some twigs, definitely added an earthy feel to the event. Lenka and Evas aging was much softened by a cosy atmosphere of cheesecakes and gin. Happy Birthday girls!

The Easter Bunny has cometh.

2010-04-06T18:05:00.000-07:00

This Easter weekend we lived through a tebble nightmare. We were visited by no one else but the actual Easter Bunny. They may describe them as cute and fluffy in books - but no, it's all a big fat lie just like Santa. It's time to face the realities. Easter Bunny is evil. Easter Bunny doesn't give you chocolate eggs - no, instead scotch eggs - made from meat of small children that Bunny kills. Bunny first lures a child towards her by smiling sweetly and pointing at the child, then pointing back at herself then at the basket of brightly coloured chocolate eggs which are nut milk and gluten free, just in case the child is allergic, but stuffed full of the really cool LSD drug; the child is therefore attracted to come closer to the Easter Bunny and quickly grabs an egg and eats it faster then lightning. While the child is over the moon in a technicolour LSD world the Bunny quickly chops the little creature's head off with a very big and sharp knife, eats the brains (only if the child seems smart enough) and makes the chocolate flavoured scotch eggs. Luckily we managed to resist the temptation and shot the Easter Bunny right in the foot. Haha no jumping and eating children for you my friend! Someone's going to be a vegetarian!And yes, this is an absolute fact - bunnies really are predators of humans - at night when noones watching they come in groups and nibble on your ears. Beware!

We love Clodagh Caine! (oh and Nino :-)

2010-04-03T18:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we met up with our electric Clodagh - an amazing poet - she will be writing some poems for us for an upcoming performance. You can check out her blog www.betweenboredomanlust.blogspot.com for some inspiring writing full of witty and punchy wonderful decadentness.

As usual with our meetings we ended up talking about random things and measuring

Nino (no, not for fun, for his costume) and drinking Bloody Hell - the local version of a Bloody Mary (but that's just Anna). A Tube Map Fairy put some tube maps through Anna's letterbox - thank you Tube Map Fairy, you are nice.

We also met up with Emily and she told us a lovely story about how she dyed her hair same colour as her (I think she said her) chicken (I think she had a pet chicken and now it's dead). I like her hair.

bubbles

2010-04-01T17:07:00.000-07:00

we love bubbles! shiny shiny blubblex blubble braggles...mmm... more more more brobbles!!!!

lenka gets married (at least 5 times!)

2010-04-01T16:35:00.000-07:00

lenka tried on some costumes for an upcoming performance while drew and luis observed! a blushing bride!

makeup experiment for upcoming performance - clay!

2010-03-29T16:35:00.000-07:00

Step 1. take one wholesome -looking Lenka!

Step 2. Give Anna a tube of clay face mask!

Step 3. Glitterize and glamourize!

Step 4. Finished results....

we waited for 2 hours to see if it starts to fall off... it did a bit and looked a bit different... next time will try to hairspray the whole face to see if it holds it then, but overall - pleased with results!

2010-03-27T18:05:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SftUYBXiVS4&feature=related

birds and squirellssssssss sorted;)

we love Emer!

2010-03-26T13:13:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Emer for her lovely card! She took part in our performance at Shunt on 12th of March.

2010-03-25T16:04:00.000-07:00

25.3. FORGIVENESS DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- dedicated to Ladybird Hana! Let's swap red for white!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Akleriah UFO siting in New Cross

2010-03-19T12:00:00.000-07:00

A BAll OF FIRE HAPPENED TO FLY OVER THE BEN PIMLOT TODAY 19:00PM.

MIHO TAJHIMA AND LUIS RODRIGUES ALONGSIDE RYAN MURRAY ALL WITNESSED THE BALL DART OVER THE BUILDING TOWARDS CENTRAL LONDON??

OUR LORDS HAVE COME, FOR US TO WORSHIP THEM.

WE LOVE AND PRAISE YOU.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

2010-03-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

some dates for Lenka's calendar to put down in your diariessssssssssss
the most spectacularrrrrrrrrrr shows are happening on for those days as they are the official anniversary Akleriah's day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

27.2. New Year'S Day
- dedicated to Anita 'Mother Jewel'
13.3. Shoe Day
- dedicated to 'Anna the Shoe'Q-King'
16.3. Pain Day
- dedicated to the'Last Samurai'that still lives

terrorist hamster

2010-03-19T11:20:00.001-07:00

wow baby hamster with a gun!!! bruno eat your heart out!

flying squirrels!

2010-03-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

we like flying squirrels! just look at those big bulgy eyes! love love love
anna: i want to be a flying squirrel!
lenka: no anna you are far too large to be a squirrel how about a bear?
anna:but if you can be a bird why can't i be a squirrel?
lenka: but then you should be a bird as well might just as well
anna: fly me to the moon...
lenka: yes thats it lets do a performance about squirrels flying to the moon!
anna: yes yes yes!!!!

It's a New Year in Lenka calendar and a new performance ahead!

2010-03-17T08:16:00.000-07:00

we are still recovering from our crazy 2 weeks at shunt... and looking forward to the next glorious performance event on the 10th April! heres some best bits of Shunt, you can see more on our web which will be updated very soon! Hope you are enjoying the sunshine (while it lasts) as much as we are !
much love,
Ankariah and Lenkariah x