Performance Night: One & Other

The current exhibition provides context for an evening of specially commissioned live performance by Francesco Pedraglio and Ant Hamlyn, drawing on the connection to theatre and staging and the dominance of social media in our self-representation that are key to One & Other’s curatorial approach. Incorporating live performance and interaction within the exhibition space, these durational works seek to explore the fragility of our persona and dissect common dualities such as actor and audience, activity and passivity, reality and fiction.

Originally performed in 2014 at Palais de Tokyo, Francesco Pedraglio’s The camel / (I had noticed) / is passing / with great difficulty / through the eye of the needle will be reenacted with a new script, commissioned for One and Other. Based on a looped collage of personal references, more or less known public incidents, historical events and literary allusions, the performance questions whether the simple act of naming something (as in: to designate, identify and/or call out) could become both a tool for the shaping of a subject and an act of disobedience and potential resistance.

A continuation from his 2015 work, The Boost Project (co-commissioned by FACT and Liverpool Hope University), London-based artist Ant Hamlyn presents #ShadowSoftware. For the event, Hamlyn will be converting one of the gallery spaces into an immersive ‘performing room’. With the use of strobe lighting, bubble machines and Twitter interaction, the work explores how we perform online; and what it means to be noticed, followed and gratified by providing an opportunity to become an instant celebrity. Tag #ShadowSoftware through Twitter to activate the room.

Francesco Pedraglio (Born 1981, Como. Lives and works in London and Mexico City) works with writing, performance, film and installation. Recent performances and exhibitions include: Piano Nobile, Geneva (2015); Norma Mangione Gallery, Turin (2015); The Physics Room, Christchurch, New Zealand (2015); Kunsthalle Wien (2015); DropCity, Newcastle (2015); MAZ-Museo de Zapopan, Mexico (2014); CCA Glasgow (2014); Hayward Gallery, London (2014); Rowing, London (2013); Jeu de Paume (2013), Kunsthalle Basel (2012); ICA (2012); Auto Italia South East (2012); Galerie Kamm, Berlin (2012); Hollybush Gardens, London (2011), The National Portrait Gallery (2011); Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge (2011). In December 2016 he published "99 battles and 1 war (an extract)" with Piano Nobile. His first novel "A man in a room spray painting a fly" was published by Book Works in summer 2014. Also in 2014 he was also the co-editor of the anthology of artists writings "Cadavere Quotidiano", published by X-TRA (Los Angeles). "The Object Lessons", a novella made in collaboration with Nina Beier and Marie Lund, was published by Mousse in 2012. Together with artist Tania Perez Cordova he initiated the Mexico/UK publishing house Juan de la Cosa / John of the Thin.

Ant Hamlyn (Born 1993, Northampton. Lives and works in London) works with sculpture, drawing, installation, film and digital technology. Notable exhibitions include: UK Young Artists, Derby (2016) Festival Miden, Kalamata (2016) Benzie Building, Manchester (2016) FOLLOW, FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology), Liverpool (2015) neo:artprize, Bolton (2015). In 2015 he was artist in residence at FACT during the 'Build Your Own' exhibition and in 2016 He worked in residence with the outreach department at Manchester School of Art on ‘A Whisper to a Shout’ an educational recourse book and programme of events centred around climate change and the evolution of the peppered moth. This year,Hamlyn will represent the UK as selected by UK Young artists at Mediterranea18, The 18th Biennale des jeunes createurs de l'Europe et de la Mediterranee in Tirana, Albania, May 2017.He is the currently studying MA Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art and is the 2016/17 recipient of the Cecil Lewis Sculpture Scholarship.