“I want you to know what’s happening…”
From what might be a news desk, an office, a bedroom, a bunker under a mountain or a theatre, two people – reporters, senators, freedom fighters, or just… well… concerned citizens like you – think about what it is to speak up, speak out, blow the whistle and lift the veil.
A Machine they’re Secretly Building – the latest project from Proto-type, a company of multi-disciplinary artists led by Rachel Baynton, Gillian Lees, and Andrew Westerside, charts a course from the Top Secret secrets of World War One intelligence (via the moon, 1972’s Chess World Championships, a disco in Oklahoma and the cafeteria at CERN) through to 9/11, the erosion of privacy, Edward Snowden and to the terror of a future that might already be upon us.
Proto-type have combined original text and classified intelligence documents with film from digital artist (and occasional comic artist) Adam York Gregory and sound design by Paul J. Rogers, to vent their frustration at the insidious machine of surveillance.
A Machine they’re Secretly Building is about how we got to the point where our governments are spying on us and how that’s changing who we are.
A Machine they’re Secretly Building – Remaining Tour Dates
18th February Lincoln performing Arts Centre, Lincoln
13th/14th April Oxford Playhouse, Oxford
27th April Warwick Arts Centre, Warwick University
18th June The Civic, Barnsley
19th June The Hub, Leeds
20th June Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield
• For more information visit the Proto-type web site
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: downthetubes News, Events, Other Worlds
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