Table manners and performance art come together at a former nineteenth century parish church this Sunday, as food and thought combine in the lastest project from Yorkshire-based artists’ publishing platform COPY.
For COPY: at the table, a three-course meal will be served at Scunthorpe’s 20-21 Visual Arts Centre, interspersed with performances by artists Clare Charnley, Holly Corfield-Carr, Laura Mahony, Patrick Coyle, Kevin Logan and Matthew McQuillan. The performers will renegotiate a collective interest in reading and performance to access site-specific modes of delivery.
“Our projects respond to a location, architectural space or context involving live events or short/long term projects that result in publications,” explains Joanna Loveday, who with Charlotte A Morgan formed COPY in 2009. “Our interest in the space at 20-21 echoes its original function as a place of worship, which resonates through its current function as a gallery.”
COPY activities have operated at the intersection of visual art, writing and performance. Says Loveday: “The space is challenging in both its past and current uses, inspiring us to consider interwoven histories of communal gatherings by way of the artists’ chosen modes of address.”
Each artist’s performance will take place around the dining table as audience members eat. “This is the first time we’ve done a formal three-course meal,” says Morgan. “We’re really excited; it is an experiment but the intimacy and yet grandeur of the situation will open up a really interesting space for performance and dialogue.”
The performancs will also explore and consider the social context of the event by presenting works that intersect normalised forms of lecture, sermon, speech, storytelling, presentation or recital. The intention is that audience members will become participants, ultimately influencing the direction any resulting publication will take.
Previous projects by COPY include COPY: Charts, an ambiguous guide developed during visits to The Yorkshire Sculpture Park; COPY: Double at Bloc Projects in Sheffield, which used external billboards as publication space; and a residency with Corale Press at Site Gallery, Sheffield, resulting in the publication Papers, Fictions, Scripts & Circles.
COPY: at the table is on Sunday 24 February, 3pm-6.30pm and costs £15, inclusive of a three-course meal and drinks. You can book your place here.
