I received some pictures of the performance and exhibition. I’ll post them here. Below is my artist’s statement on the works in the exhibition:
The Olympic Conspiracy (2009)
Video.
Duration 2:53
The Olympic Conspiracy is monologue that ironically adopts the language of conspiracy theories linking The Olympics to The End of The World. While the intellectual argument proceeds as a series of ‘false causalities’ the emotional undertone is quite genuine, using spurious ideas to express contempt for The Olympics. The three principal influences of novelist Raymond Roussel, philosopher Frederik Nietzsche and new age guru David Icke, come together in ‘The Olympic Conspiracy’ in a non-didactic and self-effacing lecture.
The Customer Is Always Wrong – prelude (2011)
Video: Jia Zhixing.
Duration 2:14
Filmed in Xiamen, this video performance, my first ever work in Chinese, introduces me as the customer: the one who seeks experiences and possessions in exchange for money. While I am critical of this socially constructed role, I here adopt it in order to better express both its inevitability and limitations. This video also introduces the formal language that I go on to develop in the subsequent performance.
The Customer Is Always Wrong (2011)
Video.
This performance document records the main work produced during the CEAC residency. I set out to look at how British identity could be viewed from the perspective of Xiamen. This rather personal document of my time in China, attempts to bring together the many difficulties, pleasures, confusions and insights that I have experienced without turning them into a coherent lesson or story. Working ‘close to the ground’ I have tried to immerse myself within Xiamen daily life using the materials and language available then filtering these through my very Western style of performance to create a hybrid work.
Customer On The Beach (2011)
Photograph. Photo: Irina Birger.
This residency was made possible with the support of Arts Council England and The British Council.
