2020 is the year of the Covid Virus. Massive ongoing changes. Lockdown led to a complete disruption of normality. It became almost impossible for street performers and street artists to work. Some could manage to continue with an online presence but most just had to try and survive. Often without access to others experiencing the same thing.
This posed a very real threat that the stories, skills, knowledge and the performers themselves may not be present for future generations.
It is in this context that Mathew Boden the Encouragble Rogue created Whining On.
Create a Living History to archive the stories of performers, artists and musicians. The stories of those that made this exciting sub culture. A history and a reference for those who may want to do this work in the future.
Mathew Boden the Encouragble Rogue began interviewing street performers from around the world and archiving their stories of their life, the experiences they have been through and their knowledge of the crafts and arts they produced.
Besides being an archive the project has become a source of community for individuals around the world. Renewing old friendships and creating new ones.
Old friends who hadn’t see each other for decades could while isolated during the covid19 pandemic see their extended family and hear their stories in a way which for many was never accessible before.
The project also offers an opportunity for young artists and buskers to get the experience of being around people with decades and in some cases half a century of experience. A thing previously supplied by being on the street and in festivals around these people. People training, writing and researching can now access the largest most in depth living history collection ever made of street performance and the development of clown, circus, magic, juggling and more.
The information stored within this is archive has been recorded and collected with the intent for this to be a long running and unobstructed archive that will be available for generations of artists to come.