Hannah Whittaker is a performance maker, creating interactive installations, one on one encounters and digital performances. The form of her work may fluctuate from high-tech digital installations to very basic one to one encounters, but her focus is always on creating an experience for an audience member. She concentrates on interactivity to facilitate dialogues that explore topics around the human condition.
She seeks to produce work that directly engages people both physically and emotionally, striving to give them an experience that will impact lives post-performance. Many of her past performances have resembled a kind of therapy, asking audience members to engage in personal discussion and disclosure.
Hannah has worked and collaborated with artists and organisations including: Tom Marshman, 30 Bird Productions, 51zero, Electric Medway, Chronic Insanity, Yoko Ishiguro, Rob Young and Dani Ploeger.
She has performed and shown work at a various venues including: Battersea Arts Centre, Turner Contemporary, Cambridge Junction, Cockpit Theatre, Camden People’s Theatre, Tate Britain, Rich Mix, The Island, Kensington Olympia, CLF Art Cafe
Hannah studied Drama and Performance Studies at London South Bank University where she gained a First Class Honours Degree and was awarded the Course Director’s award for Outstanding Achievement before continuing her studies to gain a Masters Degree in Contemporary Performance Making at Brunel University.
Hannah is a visiting lecturer at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in the Performance Arts department and is currently working with the following artists and organisations:
MESS ROOM
Tom Marshman
51zero
Coverage on Hannah's work:
‘Professional artist Hannah Whittaker led the collaborative project Draw Hope which invited individuals with lived experience of self-harm or suicide to craft unique trees capturing their life journey and aspirations’
- David Andrews
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‘During lockdown many couples have had to negotiate sharing a workspace with a partner while coping with isolation from their work colleagues. On first sight, Hannah Whittaker’s Emotional Distancing looks like a nine box Zoom meeting screen with two people awaiting the arrival of the other seven. What she does with this scenario in 60 seconds is hilarious and a rye comment on the irony of this new working context.’
‘Hannah Whittaker produced a large, vibrant floor installation, Parquet Picioare which was installed in the chancel at St Margaret’s Church Leytonstone. The installation was inspired by the concept of the dance floor and each individual tile bore the footprint of a member of the church’s congregation and wider community, with the overall pattern influenced by Romanian design in recognition of the Romanian Orthodox congregation based at St Margaret’s.’
- Laura Thornley
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‘Ever felt like all art is a one-direction monologue, asking nothing but brain freeze from its viewer? Artist Hannah Millest certainly has… The concept is an interesting one and now Run to Run has developed from its humble beginnings into the size of an exhibition… The viewer is required to ‘perform’ the artwork… if they want to see an animation of a bike, they best get on their bike, so to speak. It’s a real see, play touch event, unusual for an art exhibition but a recipe that always ends in a lot of laughs.’
Total Theatre - Tempting Failure Review - Natalie Raven
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‘This piece was addictive. Each time I tried that little bit harder, and each time I seemed to fail right at the last hurdle. If ever a piece encapsulated the term ‘tempting failure’, it was this.’