I stage events in public locations always working with groups of people rather than individuals. My invitation to participate is an open one and I am never sure how many people will turn up. I could have a situation where no one comes (this hasn’t happened yet). Sometimes people join in the performance spontaneously. My requests to perform are simple. Their significance is in what they remind us of or what we think they might mean.
We may rehearse once but the performance is not about getting good at what we are doing. It is precarious, a small distance away from not existing. I am interested in this situation where there is an intention but none of us know what will happen. I want participants to be discovering what this request feels like as they are doing it.
When people take photographs of each other in tourist locations they wilfully shut out everything that is going on around them to concentrate on taking or posing for the photograph. I want this disconnect from surroundings, this shared concentration, to happen amongst my group. Performances are documented and the resulting film/photographs may record misunderstanding, and the unexpected.
In other words:
Portable random event generators…in field situations are found to produce anomalous outputs when deployed in various group environments…. Interpretation remains speculative … and anecdotal reports from participants suggest that high degrees of attention, intellectual cohesiveness, shared emotion, or other coherent qualities of the groups tend to correlate with the statistically unusual deviations from the theoretical expectation in the… sequences. If sustained over more extensive experiments, such effects could add credence to the concept of… an agency for creating order in random physical processes.
The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research, School of Engineering/Applied Science, Princeton University: Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol.10, No. 1. pp.111 – 141, 1996
“The artist's all about reality/fiction and the way history is passed down. She's also about community, and her re-enactments are open call stagings where she considers the participants her collaborators…. That spirit of art woven together with ordinary life pushes LeQuesne's projects into a zone where art can live and be part of the discussion again with everybody at table. And that's just great.” Roberta Fallon
CV
Solo events / exhibitions since 2000
2011
Hive - Still Here - The 14th Annual Group Photograph, Central Saint Martins, Kings Cross, London
Fanfarra Para Atravessar a Rua - Performance - Praça do Comércio, Lisbon
Kadunylitysfanfaari – Performance – Central Railway Station, Helsinki
Fanfare for Crossing the Road - Performance -
Albert Memorial, London
2010
Reading On The Train - The 13th Annual Group Photograph -
On the site of Chrouch End Station, London
Banquet – Performance – Museu da Cidade, Pavilhão Preto garden, Lisbon
2009
Re:stage – The 12th Annual Group Photograph – backstage at the National Theatre, London
CRESCENDO – Two singing performances at V.art09, Värnamo, Sweden
2008
Double Exposure II – The 11th Annual Group Photograph – Merlin Studios (makers of Madame Tussauds figures), London
At Table – Re-enactments of a medieval painting on the effects of drinking wine The Crypt at St. Etheldreda’s, London
2007
TEN – The 10th Annual Group Photograph – Starr Auditorium, Tate Modern
2006
After the Fact – Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery – Philadelphia, USA
After the Fact – Re-enactment on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Audience Participation – The 9th Annual Group Photograph – on stage at the Roundhouse, London
Enclose - Lasipalatsi, Helsinki
Enclose – Kaivopuisto, Helsinki (performance)
Family Photos – Windows Gallery, London
2005
ASSEMBLE at home - Home movies at home performance space, London
ASSEMBLE at IKEA – A family reunion at IKEA Edmonton, London
ASSEMBLE – The 8th Annual Group Photograph – IKEA Edmonton
Double Exposure – Gallery Hippolyte, Helsinki
2004
Double Exposure – The 7th Annual Group Photograph – Trafalgar Square, London, and Senate Square, Helsinki
Double Exposure – Windows Gallery, London
Wave – Four re-enactments, in Southern Lapland, of a photograph taken on the Shackleton Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1914-16
2003
Here we are with everyone else –The 6th Annual Group Photograph - Natural History Museum, London
VOTES FOR WOMEN – Commissioned re-enactment for Bow Festival – on the lake in Victoria Park, London
2002
FIVE - The 5th Annual Group Photograph - Arsenal Football Ground
2001
Shoot - Making History - Gasworks Gallery
Shoot - (Event) Tate Britain
Hi Mum! - The 4th Annual Group Photograph - Battersea Power Station
2000
Brief Encounter - Platform – Melbourne
Group Exhibitions since 2000
2010
…andthenagain… - Exhibition, Museu da Cidade, Lisbon
OUTcasting – Season 13, September/October www.outcasting.org
2009
Crescendo - V.art09; invited participant – Värnamo, Sweden
2008
TEN – Gulbenkian Gallery, Royal College of Art
SPACE Now – The Triangle – London
2006
Express –Gulbenkian Gallery RCA – London
2004
Something Strange – Aine Art Museum, Tornio, Finland
Gone in 60 seconds – Cafe Gallery, London
2003
Gone in 60 seconds – Cafe Gallery, London
Op, Pop and Away! – Print exhibition – Leicester City Museum
No Fixed Position – Lethaby Gallery – London
Ex-press - The Gulbenkian Gallery, RCA – London
2002
Pulse - Buddle Arts Centre, Sunderland
2001
The Two of Us - Pump House Gallery - London (2 person) (Commission)
Host - Hastings Museum and Art Gallery - Hastings (Commission)
2000
Brief Encounter - Platform – Melbourne
Awards and Sponsorship since 2000
2009
Made a Fellow of the Royal College of Art
Juliet Gompert’s Trust, Research award for Scale
2007
Juliet Gompert’s Trust, Research award for At Table
Royal College of Art, Research award for At Table
2006
Royal College of Art, Research award After the Fact
2005
Grants for the Arts, Individual Artist’s Award for ASSEMBLE – Arts Council England
2004
Royal College of Art, Research award for Double Exposure
Research award, Central Saint Martins
Grants for the Arts, Individual Artist’s Award for Wave – Arts Council England
Exhibition Support, Wave – Arts Council of Lapland
Commission, Wave, Central Saint Martins 2003-2004
2003
Commission, Arts Council England, SPACE, for VOTES FOR WOMEN
2002
AHRB Research Award
London Arts, Individual Artist Award
Royal College of Art, Research award Shoot 2001-02
2001
Commission, South East Arts, for Host
Arts Council England, grant for The Two of Us
London Arts support for The Two of Us
2000
Royal College of Art, Research award (Paris)
Education
1968 B.A. (Hons) Art & English Literature, Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, USA
1971 Post-Graduate Diploma - Printmaking - Brighton College of Art, Brighton
Collections
Tate Britain; Amos Anderson Museum, Helsinki; Minnesota Museum of Art, Minneapolis; Chase Manhattan Bank; Rank Xerox; Sheffield City Art Gallery; Southampton Art Gallery; Sussex University; Liverpool University
Reviews and Publications
26/08/10 – Visão magazine, issue nº912 Review of ...andthenagain…
12/09/09 - Article on Crescendo Värnamo Nyheter, Sweden
25/08/09 - Article on Crescendo Värnamo Nyheter, Sweden
07/07/08 - Roberta Fallon and Libby Rosof's artblog article on At Table
http://fallonandrosof.blogspot.com/2008/07/acting-reacting-and-reenacting-ann.html
26/06/08 - kultureflash 250 – At Table
http://www.kultureflash.net/archive/250/default.htm#event5488
25/06/08 - New Music from Muriel Louveau and Charles B. Kim At Table
http://skanamusic.com/muriel.php
06/08 - Listing for At Table in Critical Network
http://www.criticalnetwork.co.uk/event.php?id=192
08/11/06 - Philadelphia Weekly – Shooting Gallery – Review of After the Fact by
Roberta Fallon.
09/11/06 - www.fallonandrosof.blogspot.com Review of After the Fact
14/08/06 - Helsingin Sanomat – Featured Enclose in Minne mennä
02/10/04 - Live television coverage of Double Exposure, Channel 4, Helsinki
- Live radio interview for Double Exposure, Radio 1, Helsinki
- Time Out – Double Exposure featured event in art listings.
- Helsingin Sanomat – Featured event in Minne mennä
23/09/04 - Helsingin Sanomat – Article on Double Exposure
05/04 - Interview with Jennie Pedley for Memory Island catalogue – Camden Arts Centre
02/04 - Something Strange - Catalogue ISBN 951-8949-07-7
02/04 - Kaltio – Review, Something Strange
06/02/04 - Lapin Kansa – Review, Something Strange
02/04 - NU (Nordic Contemporary Art Review) Joanne Morra – review - Something
Strange
19/02/04 - Pohjolan Sanomat – Review Something Strange
18/02/04 - Kaleva – Review, Something Strange
22/07/03 - Time Out, VOTES FOR WOMEN featured with photograph
01/02 - (a-n) Witness Appeal feature for Shoot
07/01 - Artwatch, London Zoc - Review by Ayuka Mizoguchi of Shoot
18/06/01 - Web site, ArtCriticLondon - Review of Shoot by Richard Dorment
18/06/01 - Guardian, G2 - Shoot listed in Picks of the Week
14/06/01 - We recommend - TheGalleryChannel.com
13/06/01 - Metro Life - featured notice of Shoot
12/06/01 - Evening Standard - Featured notice of Shoot
09/06/01 - The Guardian, Guide - Events - Shoot, featured event
08/06/01 - Evening Standard - Shoot featured in Hot Tickets, June 8-14
06/01 - Art Review - Shoot featured with photo in Calendar Highlights
05/10/01 - London live - Radio interview with Eileen Perrier for the two of us
06/01 - the two of us - catalogue with essays by Richard Hylton and Susie Gray
ISBN189928270 X
05/01 - Metro - the two of us - diary selection
05/01 - AN - the two of us - Featured with photo in diary
03/01 - Time Out - Hi Mum! - Featured with photo in art selections