How do you do?
“All together now”; the commonplace; remembering gesture and ritual; thinking about sound; the role of the camera; task-based repetition; portable narratives.
I devise and document unrehearsed performances working with groups of people. My invitation to participate is completely open. The work is always collaborative. I ask participants to perform simple actions but the ideas are not based in the theatrical tradition. Rather I am interested in performative rituals, everyday actions, that we all recognise, performed out of context. Repetition, both of actions and of performances, is important. The performances themselves may take on a lineage.
In the Pandemic I looked for other ways to collaborate asking for videos from collaborators instead of filming them and folding their contributions into the “group” video.
Using a phone rather than a camera to film has also given me greater freedom. I have made videos more spontaneously. My most recent one, shot at a distance from above, is an observation rather than a collaboration with those being filmed. The unfolding of the narrative depends on their choices rather than my requests. I have a single opportunity to record what I am watching. The narrative is theirs but but the possibilities to interpret remain with me.
Ideas are one thing and what happens is another. John Cage
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
…perfectly mundane set up and the bizarre nature of seeing so many readers. Melissa Jordan
I thought it was very strange how genuine and warm this whole experience felt, given that everyone was wildly applauding something that hadn’t happened. London City Nights – David James
They loved it, of course. One student found the ‘pretence’ or ‘fakeness’ (not in a negative way) of the piece interesting and said that it touched both her optimistic and pessimistic sides…how you can accept applause for not doing anything, but stepping in front of an audience…she also felt that when you step out at the end of a ‘play’/’performance’ in a theatrical context, that is when audience and performance actually interact. Also, they all liked the fact that inspiration for something can come from a very mundane or everyday situation and can trigger a work. Nadia Beri
What I love is the extra/ordinariness of it all. Simon Thorne
Performances and Exhibitions
2023
Fanfare for Crossing the Road - Julien Dubuque International Film Festival
2022
DOUBLE EXPOSURE - The 25th Annual Group Photograph - The Barbican, London
2021
HATS ON! - Screened in The London International Smartphone Film Festival www.smartfilmfest.net
ALL CHANGE – Top Pick – The Guardian – Art Weekly 24/02/21
ALL CHANGE – A Security Video – (Online)
HATS OFF! – A Lockdown Performance - The 23rd Annual Group Photograph (Online)
2020
mom and me and the sea www.artwalkporty.co.uk (Online and live)
Going up the wall - Strangelove – “Gone in 60 Seconds” - 2020 – (Online)
Fanfare for Crossing the Road - Strangelove - “General Release” 2020 – Folkestone (Online)
2019
Taking the Bus – the 22nd Annual Group Photograph – 01/12/19
CRESCENDO – performance with school children in front of Oodi Library, Helsinki
Art Fair Suomi 19 - participant - Helsinki
The Workers Chorus – performance in the Cable Factory before Art Fair Suomi
Bridges&Walls/Walls&Bridges – exhibition - AC Institute – New York
2018
The Stage – exhibition - Leeds University, School of Fine Art – The Common Room
New Answers in the Nunnery – performance and exhibition – Visions in the Nunnery P3 - London
Enter, Watch, Leave – performance – Leeds University, School of Fine Art – The Common Room
Fanfare for Crossing the Road –Dublin
Fanfare for Crossing the Road – Exhibition - studio1.1 – London
2017
In concert – the 20th Annual Group Photograph – The Swiss Church, Covent Garden, London
ReflectionOnReflection – weekend performances and exhibition – TINTYPE Gallery, London
2016
in train – the 19th Annual Group Photograph – The Sinking Shaft, Brunel Museum, London
The Answers Chorus – SPACE Gallery, London
2015
On reflection – the 18th Annual Group Photograph – TINTYPE Gallery, London
Ann-Marie LeQuesne – Icebox Project Space, Solo Exhibition, Philadelphia
Fanfare for Crossing the Road – 38th St & Woodland Walk, Philadelphia
CRESCENDO – Performance - Icebox Project Space, Philadelphia
2014
DID YOU HAVE BREAKFAST THIS MORNING? – The 17th Annual Group Photograph – The Henry Moore Galleries - RCA, London
Ann-Marie LeQuesne – AC Institute, Solo Exhibition – New York
To: - Performance – New York City Post Office – 8th Ave. and 33rd St – New York
You are Here - The Annual Group Photograph: 1997-2013 – Museum of the Photographic Archive,
2013
Fanfare for Crossing the Road – exhibition – PLATAFORMA REVÓLVER, Lisbon
POWER – The 16th Annual Group Photograph –Markfield Beam Engine Museum & Lisbon, Museu da Electrcidade
News – Performance for LUPAfete (lock-up performance art) – London E2
Fanfare for Crossing the Road – 23rd St and 7th Ave – New York
2012
Rowing Home - The 15th Annual Group Photograph - 111 Charing Cross Road, London WC2
Encore - Performance for LUPA (Lock-up Performance Art) 13 - London E2
Ffanffer ar gyfer Croesi'r Ffordd - The crossing in front of Cardiff Castle Wall - Cardiff
Fanfare for Crossing the Road - exhibition - Photographic Gallery Hippolyte, Helsinki
1 and 14 - The Annual Group Photograph at Central Saint Martins - The Window Gallery - CSM, London
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 Crouch End Station, London N8
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