The Feast Against Nature

'The Feast Against Nature' was a performance that took place twice: once in the Lake District, and once in PS1 New York. It represents the continued development of my interest in the nature of symbols, examples or paradigms and their status as devices for communication. This piece was a development of that concern into a collaborative practice.

The event was based on a symbol used within the novel ‘A Rebours’ by Joris Karl Huysmans, wherein the main protagonist holds a black dinner to mourn the temporary loss of his virility. The restaging of this dinner extended the obsessive choreography inherent in the novel as a whole, into the language of performance used within the event. A series of participants, each of whom had a pathological connection to themes within the text, were asked to deliver five-minute speeches between each of the ten black courses.

The piece re-addressed performance in a number of ways. The participants were involved as a result of their characters and their involvement was cerebral as well as physical. The final video piece, which was installed as a part of the exhibition, ‘Romantic Detachment’, added another level of choreography which questioned the relationship between performance and recording.

The performances were the culmination of my research involving visits to the performance locations, the selection of participants for the performances and the selection of the complex components which are configured to deliver the work in performance.

• http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/the_...
• http://www.grizedale.org/residencies/200...
• http://www.lux.org.uk/collection/artists...
• http://flamin.filmlondon.org.uk/projects...