Janine Antoni: Lore and Other Convergences

Following an open call for participants, the acclaimed artist Janine Antoni is leading a Performance Laboratory for UK based artists in November 2006.

Lore and Other Convergences will explore and interrogate the intersection between process and product. It has been conceived for those artists working in performance who have an interest in the object, and those from the visual arts interested in process and performativity. The workshop is particularly relevant for artists who explore or wish to explore notions of cultural identity through their practice.

The Performance Laboratory will involve the participants making 200 feet of rope from significant material gathered from their personal lives. They will compile stories related to the material gathered. Participants will work with Janine Antoni throughout the process, exploring the meanings behind materials being woven and examining the ways in which materials accrue personal meaning in our lives. The workshop will be based on Antoni's 2001 sculpture 'Moor'. The Performance Laboratory will culminate in a public performance at inIVA on Friday 17 November at 1pm.

Janine Antoni and her collaborator Melissa Martin will also talk about their work at inIVA on Tuesday 14 November at 7pm.

Born in the Bahamas and now living in New York, Janine Antoni is internationally renowned for her distinctive performative object pieces and for the unusual materials, such as lard and chocolate, that she deploys to recast the aesthetic and cultural meaning of sexual difference? While her work can be located in the context of a broader shift in the 1990's towards issues of intimacy combined with an emphasis on the physicality of the body and the use of performative strategies, her procedures are unique, bearing and generating a distinct style of their own.

Lore and Other Convergences is part of Restock, Rethink, Reflect One a Live Art Development Agency initiative addressing issues of cultural diversity, financially assisted by Arts Council England and supported by inIVA and Artsadmin. Produced by Rajni Shah.