Eloise Fornieles, Cupboard Love (2010), Performance - A response by Tiffany Charrington
It is not everyday one can have such an encounter with a mother, a daughter and their dog. And that is saying something, coming from a resident of Deptford, South-East London whereby encounters are in plenty fold. The former mentioned however, was within the context of a performance in a gallery space rather than my much frequented high street. Cupboard Love by Eloise Fornieles highlighted this enigma of encounter for me; what was the difference in ‘liveness’ between the performance and the everyday?
As soon as I entered Cupboard Love; a live performance at 176 Gallery as part of Testing Ground: Live at 176, curated by students from The Royal College of Art and Goldsmiths, I felt I had entered the family home of the artist. Sat amongst the hay strewn floor was Eloise with her mother and their enormous dog Angus. I was immediately taken by the domestic set up, of which included a cabinet (permanently resident in the space), laden with cookery utensils and soup making materials. I was generously offered soup and bread, or tea, or both in exchange for “a personal story of help; given or received.” I accepted soup and bread and spoke of a story in my recent past – my cousin pushed me single-handedly to shore in a violent sea, on a surf expedition in France. Within minutes, the three of us were locked in conversation, which led to another rescuing scenario, told by the mother involving a goose and a cruel gaggle of school boys.
It all seemed too easy; conversation flowed without apprehension, and the soup went down very well - despite an incident of over enthusiasm with caraway seeds as mentioned to me by the mother when I initially entered the space. The only thing that kept me alerted to the construction of the scene was a theatrical light to my right, which cast an artificial presence on us all. The transformation and transcendence of time and space however, removed us somewhere other than the gallery, and all those wondering amongst its spaces.
Suddenly becoming conscious of the queue that would be forming outside to enter the ‘Cupboard’ I said my thanks. Just before this however, and still within performance mode, Eloise and myself had struck upon a shared common interest as to why we were both specifically interested in a one-on-one encounter within performance; the intimacy, the subjectivity, the malleability of the ambience within a space, the life exactly that is created in that encounter. We agreed that that is perhaps exactly what makes a work ‘live’; the dialogue, spoken or unspoken, between performer and spectator.
I left feeling certain in the knowledge that without those persons entering Cupboard Love, there would be no life to the performance. But then again, without Cupboard Love there would be no encounter to speak of. And surely, an encounter which has impact continues to live on in oneself independent of the place, time and space it was conceived in. And so this answered my question really; the living encounter can be found everywhere and is indeed a performance in itself.
Tiffany Charrington
www.utrophia.net/people/TiffanyCharrington
——————————-
Responding to:
Eloise Fornieles
Cupboard Love (2010)
‘Throughout the weekend, visitors are invited to participate in Cupboard Love on an individual basis. In this newly commissioned work, Fornieles and her mother will be offering tea or soup in return for a story of help once received or needed.’
At
23-24 January 2010
Testing Ground: Live at 176
Saturday 2 - 10 pm
Sunday 2 - 6pm
Performances and events curated by students from Goldsmiths MFA Curating and Royal College of Art MA Curating Contemporary Art (Work Based).
——————————
Find out more about Eloise Fornieles:
Eloise Fornieles, Cupboard Love (2010), Performance - A response by Tiffany Charrington
It is not everyday one can have such an encounter with a mother, a daughter and their dog. And that is saying something, coming from a resident of Deptford, South-East London whereby encounters are in plenty fold. The former mentioned however, was within the context of a performance in a gallery space rather than my much frequented high street. Cupboard Love by Eloise Fornieles highlighted this enigma of encounter for me; what was the difference in ‘liveness’ between the performance and the everyday?
As soon as I entered Cupboard Love; a live performance at 176 Gallery as part of Testing Ground: Live at 176, curated by students from The Royal College of Art and Goldsmiths, I felt I had entered the family home of the artist. Sat amongst the hay strewn floor was Eloise with her mother and their enormous dog Angus. I was immediately taken by the domestic set up, of which included a cabinet (permanently resident in the space), laden with cookery utensils and soup making materials. I was generously offered soup and bread, or tea, or both in exchange for “a personal story of help; given or received.” I accepted soup and bread and spoke of a story in my recent past – my cousin pushed me single-handedly to shore in a violent sea, on a surf expedition in France. Within minutes, the three of us were locked in conversation, which led to another rescuing scenario, told by the mother involving a goose and a cruel gaggle of school boys.
It all seemed too easy; conversation flowed without apprehension, and the soup went down very well - despite an incident of over enthusiasm with caraway seeds as mentioned to me by the mother when I initially entered the space. The only thing that kept me alerted to the construction of the scene was a theatrical light to my right, which cast an artificial presence on us all. The transformation and transcendence of time and space however, removed us somewhere other than the gallery, and all those wondering amongst its spaces.
Suddenly becoming conscious of the queue that would be forming outside to enter the ‘Cupboard’ I said my thanks. Just before this however, and still within performance mode, Eloise and myself had struck upon a shared common interest as to why we were both specifically interested in a one-on-one encounter within performance; the intimacy, the subjectivity, the malleability of the ambience within a space, the life exactly that is created in that encounter. We agreed that that is perhaps exactly what makes a work ‘live’; the dialogue, spoken or unspoken, between performer and spectator.
I left feeling certain in the knowledge that without those persons entering Cupboard Love, there would be no life to the performance. But then again, without Cupboard Love there would be no encounter to speak of. And surely, an encounter which has impact continues to live on in oneself independent of the place, time and space it was conceived in. And so this answered my question really; the living encounter can be found everywhere and is indeed a performance in itself.
Tiffany Charrington
www.utrophia.net/people/TiffanyCharrington
——————————-
Responding to:
Eloise Fornieles
Cupboard Love (2010)
‘Throughout the weekend, visitors are invited to participate in Cupboard Love on an individual basis. In this newly commissioned work, Fornieles and her mother will be offering tea or soup in return for a story of help once received or needed.’
At
23-24 January 2010
Testing Ground: Live at 176
Saturday 2 - 10 pm
Sunday 2 - 6pm
Performances and events curated by students from Goldsmiths MFA Curating and Royal College of Art MA Curating Contemporary Art (Work Based).
——————————
Find out more about Eloise Fornieles:
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