Performance
performance
pəˈfɔːm(ə)ns/
noun
1.
An act of presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment.
The action or process of performing a task or function.
The extent to which an investment is profitable, especially in relation to other investments…
Performore! engages with an expanded understanding of performance, investigating how this notion frames artistic production under neoliberalism. Under the guise of a training workshop set up to help artists amplify, maximise, utilise and, ultimately, capitalise on their performance, Performore! draws on the tools of the capitalist workplace in order to exhaust them and expose their redundancy.
Led by two belligerent performers / self-appointed HR trainers (both called Ann) the performance involves animal-fronted psychometrics, managerial mantras and spectacular use of fruit. As the Anns attempt to adhere to the six rules of making performance (persona, intuition, practice, inspiration, direction and reflection), the involvement of the audience gradually increases until they are invited to determine the ending for themselves. The piece embraces an accelerationist view by which the future has already happened and the only cure appears to be more of the same. Subversive use of familiar tropes and routines functions as an open-ended question, pointing to something that is fundamentally irresolvable: the contradictions inherent to undertaking artistic labour in a capitalist context. As the rules of performance are discussed, re-evaluated and broken, the possibility of dissent is built into the performance – although something else may emerge if that possibility is not realised.
Following an open call for proposals Present Futures offered two micro bursaries to emerging artists Annie Lowry Thomas & Anna Danielwicz and Alex Millar to support their involvement and contribution to the 2019 edition of the festival.
Performance
performance
pəˈfɔːm(ə)ns/
noun
1.
An act of presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment.
The action or process of performing a task or function.
The extent to which an investment is profitable, especially in relation to other investments…
Performore! engages with an expanded understanding of performance, investigating how this notion frames artistic production under neoliberalism. Under the guise of a training workshop set up to help artists amplify, maximise, utilise and, ultimately, capitalise on their performance, Performore! draws on the tools of the capitalist workplace in order to exhaust them and expose their redundancy.
Led by two belligerent performers / self-appointed HR trainers (both called Ann) the performance involves animal-fronted psychometrics, managerial mantras and spectacular use of fruit. As the Anns attempt to adhere to the six rules of making performance (persona, intuition, practice, inspiration, direction and reflection), the involvement of the audience gradually increases until they are invited to determine the ending for themselves. The piece embraces an accelerationist view by which the future has already happened and the only cure appears to be more of the same. Subversive use of familiar tropes and routines functions as an open-ended question, pointing to something that is fundamentally irresolvable: the contradictions inherent to undertaking artistic labour in a capitalist context. As the rules of performance are discussed, re-evaluated and broken, the possibility of dissent is built into the performance – although something else may emerge if that possibility is not realised.
Following an open call for proposals Present Futures offered two micro bursaries to emerging artists Annie Lowry Thomas & Anna Danielwicz and Alex Millar to support their involvement and contribution to the 2019 edition of the festival.