17 May — 28 June 2009

Elena Cologni, Simon Davenport, RJ Hinrichsen, Andy Holden, Katherine Hymers, Olga Jurgenson, CJ Mahony, Rob Smith, Townley and Bradby, Mark Wilsher.

 

Performed presented a selection of video, photography, installation, performances and documentation of performed actions and interventions by ten artists based in the east of England.

From Andy Holden’s series of LP records melted and morphed into bowl and vessel structures and hung like baskets from the gallery ceiling, to C.J. Mahony’s unsettling, intimate and humorous text based works exhibited in quirky and surprising locations throughout the gallery space, this stimulating exhibition explored the relationship between the artist and viewer and sought to create a challenging and engaging meeting point between both.
 

Works included the durational pieces WINDscale by Rob Smith, a time-based work that reveals the random effects of the wind by only becoming fully realized when the wind conditions are right, and Mark Wilsher’s series of Estimated length drawings, 2009, that were accompanied by a live performance of five estimated minutes on the 12 June.

Video works included R.J. Hinrichsen’s Melville Road; a video still of the actual street in London in which a choir can be heard repeatedly rehearsing and in which the moment is intensified by both the frozen image and to the people you can hear but actually not see, and Olga Jurgenson’s videos that examine the human themes of migration, work and identity. Katherine Hymers’ work spans film, video and performance, utilizing the body throughout as a presence and a tool from which to direct an enquiry out to a viewer and in Performed she showed a new video work that addressed the viewer in a highly emotional and ambiguous space.

 

Elena Cologni reprised the ‘document’ of a work made at the Tournai Cathedral in Belgium. In the work entitled Il Soffio (at the back of mind), 2008, she obsessively ‘remade’ the black white tile pattern of the floor in situ and transformed it with her own pencil drawing. Townley & Bradby showed, amongst other works, Advice to artists leading tours 2008-09, documentation of a performance in which they randomly selected members of the public who were visiting the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich and invited them to accompany the artists into the basement. Finally, Simon Davenport’s work pursued lines of flight that depart from recognizable aspects of contemporary culture. His projects are delivered with an improvised aesthetic, where the appearance of the installed objects and stage props is often subordinate to their performative function.

Click here for the accompanying programme of events.