A long durational perfomance
Maleki House, London
May 24, 2018
Curated by Anna Shpilko, Fyodor Pavlov-Andreevich
Artists: Madeleine Virginia Brown (UK), Eliose Fornieles (UK) , Alexander G. Lyle IV (US), Marie-Luce Nadal (Fr), Fyodor Pavlov-Andreevich (RUS/BR) in collaboration with Arto Lindsay (US/BR) and Playtronica (RUS)
Hours performed: 5
Images by Undra Byambe, Alexander Pas
In theory, the idea of possessing art is as good for the art collector as it is bad for the artist. The artist no longer decides where their work goes, how is it going to be displayed and what kind of context it will exist in. The artwork's slavery begins with the signing of a contract: the work is no longer under the artist's authority and instantly becomes somewhat fragile, capable of transmitting the wrong intention.
Live art is even more vulnerable: it is something that often requires an immediate response and, at times, a multilateral interaction. That said, a work of performance art in a collector’s possession is a hidden threat, and a harbinger of almost certain disaster.
A small one-day group show of performance art is exactly this - a trial for collectors and artists to see where is the line between watching and owning, enjoying and enslaving, and who suffers worst out of it all.
Five London based young to mid-generation live artists will occupy a collector’s home in Central London for a gala event Performance Pets. For five long hours, they continue performing their live works exposed to the invited guests browsing around the house and seeing both bodily presented live artists and their small-scale works available for acquisition.
