YORK artist Graham Martin is to take part in Action Art Lab, an event for artists, activists and audiences in York and Scarborough on September 10 and 11.

"The themes of the weekend will be Socio Politics Now; UK, Europe, The World and Art & Humanity," says Graham. "The event follows on from an Arts Council grant where I did a performance art course for ten days in Venice, which was really intensive and was about social and gender coding and the construction of violence."

The Basement at City Screen, Coney Street, York, and St James Community Arts Centre, in Seamer Road, Scarborough, are both participating in the weekend.

On September 10, The Basement will be the venue for a talk on Art and the Social Body, from 11am to 12.30pm, and a workshop and discussion, from 1.15pm to 3pm, while artists and activists can take part in Action in Town from 3pm to 5pm.

From 7pm to 10pm in The Basement, a Variety Night will be held involving actions and videos, plus performance, then open mic. Admission is a suggested donation of £5 for the public.

At St James Community Arts Centre on September 11, the day will begin with a collective pottery workshop from 10.30am to 12 noon, followed by a talk, videos, discussion and actions from 1pm to 4pm and a 4pm to 7pm session of performance, videos and music. The cost is by donation and free to invited participants; no booking is required.

"If you're an artist or activist in the region and would like to be involved or a poet or musician wanting to perform at the open mics, please get in touch," says Graham, who can be contacted on 07913736230 or by email g.martin3337@gmail.com. Alternatively, email ionacalvert@me.com, and those wishing to participate in the pottery session should do likewise.

The socio-political performance and action artists confirmed for Action Art Lab are the British Intervention, from London and Manchester; Rachel Parry and Gorilla Arts Lab, from Nottingham; Kimvi Nguyen, from Winchester, and Graham Martin.

The video programme contributors will be Siri Devi Khandavilli, from India/USA; Vest and Page, from Germany and Italy; Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination, from Britain and France; Jurgen Fritz, from Germany; Black Market International, from Europe; Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi, from Ghana; Keike Twisselmann; from Belfast and Berlin, and Kolkata International Performance Art Festival, from India.

"Also as part of Action Art Lab, an international print collaboration between me and Aaron Hughes, an artist/veteran/activist in the United States, will be on show in York from 11am to 10pm," says Graham. "I did the text and Aaron's doing letterpress design and printing.

"Aaron is an amazing artist/activist; he's also an ex-serviceman and passionately anti-war. The Tea project he does with others has been done in MOMA [the Museum of Modern Art, New York] and the biggest museums, so check out Tea on his website, aarhughes.org/."

York Press:

From the Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination: The People vs The Banksters, Snowball Fight, City of London, 2008. Picture: Kristian Buss, labofii.

On display too will be a special project, Anti War Broadsides, a collaboration between Iraq Veterans Against The War, Celebrate People's History and the Justseeds Cooperative from the United States.

Looking forward to the weekend, Graham says: "The York Workshop & Action will be a space to talk and share with each other regarding how we feel now; a meeting that becomes a public action with each making a sign saying what they want to say! A collective action, conceived as a 'demonstration' of difference and unity in diversity.

"‘Demo’ plays with notions of a ‘demonstration’, changing its formation, mode and approach along the way. Please bring some cardboard, material, felts or paints if you can."

For the Variety Night on September 10, people also are invited to suggest actions for the beginning. "Keep them simple and participative; take into account the time and audience and that they'll be done on a table or in a small space, be low-cost and connected to themes," says Graham. "Get in touch and if you have other ideas, get in touch too."

Summing up Action Art Lab, Graham concludes: "The event is a view on arts and society: an open, humanistic, creative view of what constitutes the socio political. The ethos is individual and collective; it's creative human time and non profit."