Houserules Project


I would like to use HOUSERULES as an opportunity to work with actors in relation to the site. I will work with one actor/performer/individual each week and improvise with them. 

 I am interested in collaboration and its attached concepts duality, identity/ identification and mirroring. How through the artistic interaction we can lose our identities, the danger in that, the pleasure in that, the limits, no limits, how it can either crush or enrich our egos. I am equally interested in “space” and its influence on the artists/ artwork.

 For Thursday the 20th I will present the documentation of my work with a spoken word performer/ stand-up comedian. He writes and performs his own stuff; he can be very centered and specific in his art form but equally really open to be doubted or challenged. I am expecting him to create something inspired by the Anchor House building. The site’s aesthetic essence and conceptual connotations (abandoned offices) are very close to his subjects of interest. 

For Thursday the 27th I will present my work with a talented English actor, versatile and flexible. He is a sensitive ‘instrument” and his delivery is mainly relying on his instincts and is influenced by the site and his interaction with others (actors, director). I will give him some texts related to the site for him to improvise on them. I am open to reverse our roles and to be under his directorial instructions. In every case i will initiate each dialogue by “bringing something on the table” to work on and I am expecting from the performers to challenge me back by using the means of their choice. I will document this procedure and I will present this documentation on the site.

HOUSERULES

HOUSERULES is an ongoing work in progress with open evenings to the public on every Thursday, beginning Feb 6th. HOUSERULES is part of 'OFFICE SESSIONS'.

Description

From February 4th, 13 artists will be occupying the fifth floor of a largely unoccupied office building in East India Docks, as part of creative director and curator Caitlin Mavroleon’s ambitious project, OFFICE SESSIONS, in which different art projects will activate 100,000 sqf of empty office space.

HOUSERULES has been initiated by artist Nadia Berri, and the project is executed collaboratively with participating artists Tatiana Baskakova, Victoria Burgher, Terry Dynes, Ben Faga, Matthew Hammond, Jeremy Lee, Jayne Lloyd, Kate Mahony, Erifili Missiou, Cristina Pedreira, Daniella Valz-Gen and Rob Brown.

Over 42 days the artists will engage in the development of constantly evolving work for, and in direct response to 20,000 sqf of a deserted office floor. This particular setting offers great potential, while at the same time the ‘houserules’ of such an environment set out contrived boundaries: it is within this tension that the project will take place.

HOUSERULES embraces the idea of indeterminacy within the restrictions of the 5th floor to bring, but also to question, freedom, action and play, in the context of an exhibition and also the given space.

The participating artists work in a variety of media, including performance, film, installation, sculpture, text and sound.

HOUSERULES is an ongoing work in progress with open evenings to the public on every Thursday, beginning Feb 6th. The public is invited to come and join the artists and witness the work as it evolves.

HOUSERULES will also invite other artists to create work on the spot on these open evenings. The project will end with a big final event on March 13th.

OPEN EVENINGS:

Thursday, 6 February, 7pm to 9pm

Thursday, 13 February, 7pm to 9pm

Thursday, 20 February, 7pm to 9pm

Thursday, 27 February, 7pm to 9pm

Thursday, 6 March, 7pm to 9pm