In February and March of 2020, The Centre for the Less Good Idea was in the final phases of development toward a live performance showing of Season 7. As the pandemic and its impacts became a reality, we decided to shift gears from staged performances to performance films. This move was hugely informative and demanded a different kind of thinking and framing. In addition to making elements of Season 7 available online, we launched The Long Minute, a series of short, online video fragments of text, performance, image, and dance from the studios and homes of artists. In Series 1 and 2 of The Long Minute, we have shared over 100 short mobile-phone films from artists across the world, as a collection these miniature pieces capture and express what it is to be a contemporary artist in this very particular moment.

For October, as a result of The Long Minute and in response to the challenge of making extremely short form work, The Centre decided to engage a number of Johannesburg based artists to collaboratively devise and extend the seeds of their ideas in to ‘Considered 3 Minute’ films. Members of The Centre’s core, collaborative team, Phala O. Phala (animateur), Shruthi Nair (production manager), Dimakatso Motholo (stage manager and administrator), Zain Vally (sound engineer), and Noah Cohen (director of photographer) have collaborated with the artists to produce this series. Bronwyn Lace has curated The Long Minute and continues to collaborate on the direction on the ‘Considered 3 Minute’ series.