Thursday, March 1, 2018 @7PM
Bathing (Drunkenness)
Live Performance by Patrick Staff presented with FD13
Over the course of their four week FD13 residency, Staff develops ‘Bathing (Drunkenness)’ (2018), a series of fluid choreographic gestures enacted by one performer in a shallow pool of water. The performance combines contemporary references alongside Staff’s research into the classical figure of the bather, the drunken revelry of bacchanalia, and spiritello, cherub-like figures which commonly adorn fountains. Embracing feelings of anxiety induced by stagnant water and its pollution, the performance suggests a complex relationship to gender, intoxication, and desire. ‘Bathing (Drunkenness)’ is Staff’s first performance choreographed for a live audience since 2013 and continues their examination into themes of contamination, cleanliness, and illness.
Patrick Staff (b.1987) is an interdisciplinary artist living and working in London, UK and Los Angeles, USA. Their work has been exhibited internationally. Recent solo exhibitions have taken place at MOCA, Los Angeles (2017); Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada; Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia (2016); Spike Island, Bristol, UK; and Chisenhale Gallery, London, UK (2015.) Staff’s work was included in the British Art Show 8, and they received the Paul Hamlyn Award for Visual Art in 2015.