'Circuit Training (exercises in self doubt)' as part of A Performance Affair, The Second Edition: 're:production', Brussels. Belgium. Group Exhibition. 5-8 September 2019.
- Submitting institution
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Arts University Bournemouth, the
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- Davenport_32058 Circuit
- Type
- I - Performance
- Venue(s)
- Vanderborght Building, Brussels, Belgium
- Open access status
- -
- Month of first performance
- September
- Year of first performance
- 2019
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
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- Criminology
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- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- In response to the theme, ‘re:production’, Davenport was selected by an international jury to present her live performance work ‘Circuit Training (exercises in self-doubt)’, at ‘A Performance Affair’ in Brussels, held between 05-08 September 2019.
As part of her research enquiry, Davenport set out to explore how live performances for gallery contexts can sustainably be re-performed and reproduced. Tapping into resistance training structures, the work explores fragmentation of the body through five exercise-style segments: Elbow Joint, Knee Lever, Hip-Bone, Jaw-Line & Shoulder Socket. The work layers movements and gestures from a variety of sources, including self-defense guides for women and early medical photographs of hysteria taken at Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris.
Exploring the choreographic nature of image-making and the performativity of the camera, the two female performers move in Pas de Deux (“Dance of Two”) — a term borrowed from ballet, where the female dancer is often supported by a male partner for lifts, turns, and balancing steps — creating an illusion of stillness. On repetition of the performance, the body gains strength but suffers fatigue.
‘A Performance Affair’ (APA) is an international dynamic platform for performance art that stimulates discussions and discourse around the economies of performance. At around 20 minutes in duration, Circuit Training (exercises in self-doubt) performed by Alexandra Davenport and Elizabeth Bradley, questions both audience and institutional expectations of performer labour.
The performance was sponsored by APA and performed at Vanderborght, Brussels. The internal selection committee included the Director of the National Gallery, Czech Republic, the artist ORLAN, and Chantal Pontbriand, curator and critic from Montreal, Canada.
It was featured in Vogue, Ukraine Art Issue, August 2019.
https://aperformanceaffair.com/
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
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- English abstract
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