Archive

An installation and performance by British artist Florence Peake in which large, exuberantly painted canvases were folded, dragged, and suspended by five dancers, moving between flat and sculptural forms and theatrical elements of concealment and revelation. The performance treating the canvases, painted by Peake, with a joyful irreverence, extending the relationship between dance and painting. Unpicking the romantic representation of dance in classical painting and its idealised depiction of the body, Peake looks at the idea of the collapse of the canon of white Western classical painting through the literal manipulation of the large canvases as they are collapsed in form, addressing institutional power structures by looking for ways in which we can overcome them. After four performances on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 October, the canvases remained as an installation in the space.

Performers: Eve Stainton, Rosalie Wahlfrid, Iris Yi Po Chan, Charlie Ashwell, Katye Coe and Nikki Tomlinson.

Download the Exhibition Guide

Images: Chris Scott

Portrait: Neil Hanna