An alternative to corporate music videos that mass-market young female musicians, Celebrations for Breaking Routine (2003) documents girl bands in Liverpool and Basel recording original songs commissioned by Lucas with the support of FACT and Plug[in].

This video is part of a larger project in which Lucas traveled to cities internationally recognized for their music scenes and invited young girl-led bands to write songs about the future. These community-based collaborations resulted in alternative visions of female empowerment and identity in a media-driven culture.

Lucas writes, “Celebrations for Breaking Routine acknowledges Liverpool as a city in transition from industrial working class to international city of culture, and takes occasion to empower under-recognized voices within the greater Liverpool community while highlighting its thriving, diverse, historic and resilient music scene. The resulting songs — Like a Lady, Right to Speak, and Science and Nature — reflect concerns with the young women's environment and global politics as well as personal dreams and aspirations.

Each band's recording session is videotaped. Additional footage is recorded around a city's neighborhoods, landmarks, and places of transition. The edited videos lie between documentary and music video — a choice that I made to best reflect the project's concept and to give visual shape to each band's vision of future. Members of the band Venus wore personalized uniforms with strap-on satellite dishes for a shoot in a Liverpool café. This image carries a tone of seriousness and humor — as if the viewer is looking through a window into our certain future as telecommunication apologists with excitement and burden — while the song plays, "How can I be myself and get what I want from the future? It's already set out for me.'"

7 videos: Liverpool: Venus: "Like A Lady." Exit 3: "Right to Speak." Flamingo 50: "Science and Nature." Rainford Silver Brass Band, Merseyside Pipers Majorettes: "Science and Nature." Transposition: Paul Mitchell-Davidson, Choreography: Pauline Grey. Basel: Zero2nine: "The Last Perfect Day." Dew: "Feed Me."

Liverpool version commissioned by Foundation for Art & Creative Technology (FACT) in 2001-03. Basel version commission by Plug[in] in 2003.

FACT Team: Director Eddie Berg, Jo McGonigal, Maria Brewster, Mary Anne McQuay and technical team.

Plug[in]: Director/Curator Anne Schindler, Wolfgang Hockenjos

Distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI).