A night of structured spontaneity and subjectivity switches at the Whitechapel Gallery.
MicroPerformance is a series of curated performances and talks which use an intimate and interactive format. Similar to the format of speed-dating, the performer interacts directly with the audience around a table in a bar or cafe, and the audience moves between performers throughout the night.
Pursuing an interest in landscape, subjectivity, and the location of encounters, artist Rebecca Birch curates projects that extend this research; for MicroPerformance she invites artists working in a diverse range of mediums to explore site specific creation and intimacy.
Inspired by Roebbrecht and Daem’s focus on the intimate and ephemeral relationships of the individual to architectural environments, the Whitechapel café’s tables will provide the stage for the performances and inform the content.
Reacting to this idea of the table as the stage or trajectory for performance will be theatre company, Dancing Brick, nominated and shortlisted as best emerging company at the total theatre awards will stage a drama. Sculptor and painter Flore Nove-Josserand will engage in a critical discussion on design theory. Composer and musician Neil Luck, a founding member of Squid Box and the ARCO collective, will perform a series of new compositions. Sculptor Laura Wilson will discuss aspects of the table with a furniture specialist. The Ladies of the Press, a compact publishing unit, presents the performance of printing and publication with a playful pressing parlour game. Sarah Bowker-Jones, painter and sculptor will create a temporary intervention.
Performances will take place throughout the evening. Some will be continuous and others will be repeated. The subject of the encounter becomes both the viewer (the audience) and the viewed (the performer) who alternately change roles throughout their interaction.
A building may have walls, but its how use them that counts.
