Adelaide Salon – 24hr Performance

The Adelaide Salon is moving from Adelaide Crescent this Winter, can you tell us when it is and where it will be located – or is it a secret?!

It was… but now it is a time to share!!
It starts at 1pm this Saturday (7th December) and finishes at 4pm on Sunday (8th December)

You can find us in a shop at:
28 New Road (next to the Corn Exchange)
Brighton, BN1 1UG

What can we expect to find there?
The 24hr Performance project focuses on important contemporary social issues. We have curated and invited different artists to perform in their own art language and comment on the issues of today. The underlying concept points to the shape of society, within the context of the Christmas period in England; the underlying thoughts and attitudes juxtaposed with the world geo-political / climate situation. Moreover, we want to investigate the boundaries between performance art, performative arts, entertainment, voyeurism and consumerism. Which is why this collection of continuous performances will be displayed in a ‘shop window’, without the possibility for the audience to enter the space. In the highly consumer focused pre-Christmas period, this performance project will act as a disruptor and commentator, being recorded and live streamed throughout the whole 24-hour period. In the shop window, each artist will have a QR code leading the audience to informal materials related to the artist and the performance.

We will stream via YouTube channel @Theadelaidesalon – please subscribe to watch it!

Can you tell us a little about some of the performers you have selected?
We are very proud to have received a great number of responses to our open-call from Performance Artists based all over the UK. There were so many great applications we couldn’t take under consideration this time due to the limitations this particular 24hr Performance project imposes. Nevertheless, we are hoping to invite some of the applicants to The Adelaide Salon: Edit in future with their Performance Art.

This time we will present a collection of Performance Art by fantastic artists communicating in very diverse ways about current social emergencies and issues. We will present ten Performance Artists’ work – and one or two secret guest Performance Artists.

We invited Ellie Bradford and her performance art titled: *Flat B. Bedroom Piece*. She is inviting viewers into this intimate, ever-changing space, and hopes to offer insight into the lived experience of BPD. Her performance and installation aim to evoke the feeling of  “all for nothing,” a sentiment often felt during recovery, while also acknowledging the impact of these moments.

Another fantastic Artist performing for 8-hours non-stop is Isobel Smith with the title: Incubator of Dreams. It is a durational performance that embodies the tension between the artificial and the organic, the sterile and the instinctive.

Coming from the Isle of Wight, artist Joshua Raffell will perform the piece: My 3 Days As A Gang Star. Joshua is an activist artist, taking an interest in power struggles, class and LGBTQIA+ stories.  Coming from a canal gypsy background and being neurodivergent, Joshua has a rare perspective as an outsider on the inside. His work explores ideas of fraud – fraudsters targeting vulnerable people – and its proximity to consumerism. It plays with the ideas of gang culture and greed and uses absurdity to highlight and question the ideas at work.

Frankie Cluney’s performance art piece is titled: The Labours. This piece is an exploration of the maternal body as furniture – a place of comfort and rest, support for the body of another. The tangled limbs reflect the uniquely intimate relationship with one’s child, and the still poses reveal the awkward temporality of being ‘nap-trapped’.

Let me mention Klaudia Wittmann and her piece: 2:30 exploring materiality and sensorially within the choreographic process to research social structures of gender in the context of the recent global abuse scandals in women’s gymnasts.

A couple of artists are visiting us from Glasgow; Tsoi Huen Wong & Christiano Mere with their performance: Anticlockwise, mixing ancestral memory, time and body movement to explore resistance. Circular gestures defy the notion of resistance as direct confrontation, instead embracing balance, imbalance, and subtle acts of defiance. The performance is as much about carving out spaces of complexity as it is about resisting entropy and colonisation.

Silas Grocott Cain builds upon himself to create a living sculpture that exudes character, and explores this character further through movement. Throughout the performance, he identifies and disseminates the many personalities he has found to build a sense of self, therefore identifying himself as fluid and multiple rather than static and singular.

Angaqqu’ Collective: Iv Genia, KrisAna Baeva, Alina R.J’s performance: Roots explores concepts of cyclicality, demonstrating the inseparable connection between humans and nature and responds to the resistance of these connections.

Finally, Aisling Zambon is performing: The Artist is Guru. She said: I am interested in exploring the theme of cultism and placing myself as an Artist into the persona of ‘Guru’. This durational performance art piece looks into the contradictions of self-appointed spiritual leaders. The need and tendency of humans to worship and follow individuals, exploring both truthful insights and ego.

As you can see we are very excited and looking forward to welcoming the participants of these performances.

What criteria did you have for selection?
We never publicised our motivations behind the 24hr Performance Project, so it was truly surprising to learn our motivations met the interest of so many artists. We were hoping to respond and collect the voices from the ether rather than impose a subject – to learn what artists want to talk about. It turned out the emergency of the subjects are perfectly aligned with our own motivations.

Is performance art a part of our own artists practice?
Performance Art is indeed very close to my practice. Marina Abramovic once said that Performance Art triumphs in the times of crises and when the economy is down, performance art emerges. Hard to disagree. For me personally Performance Art is my sketchbook, allowing me to feel, experience and investigate the idea. It is relevant for my practice focused around overriding questions of what does it actually mean to be a human and what human do we want to be?

What are you hoping will be the outcome of the event?
This is a very interesting question, in regards to Performance Art, we believe it all depends on the audience. We know that the Performance Art is an Artwork created live with the audience, in a particular space and duration of time. We are hoping to perform for diverse audience demographics, changing throughout the 24 hours, promoting challenging art and formats. Furthermore, we are delighted to initiate the collaborative spirit of Performance Art by inviting a pool of fantastic artists to work together, exchange and inspire each other.

Is there anything else you would like to tell us?
Yes, this performance is actually 27 hours long!

If you wish to watch it live, please join our YouTube channel @TheAdelaideSalon

We are starting at 1pm on Saturday the 7th of December and finishing at 4pm on the 8th of December.

Visit Adelaide Salon – 24hr Performance at:
28 New Road (next to the Corn Exchange)
Brighton, BN1 1UG