Florence Peake FACTUAL ACTUAL: ENSEMBLE

An installation and performance by British artist Florence Peake in which large, exuberantly painted canvases are folded, dragged, and suspended by five dancers, moving between flat and sculptural forms and theatrical elements of concealment and revelation. The performance treats the canvases, painted by Peake, with a joyful irreverence, extending the relationship between dance and painting. Unpicking the romantic representation of dance in classical painting and its idealised depiction of the body, Peake looks at the idea of the collapse of the canon of white Western classical painting through the literal manipulation of the large canvases as they are collapsed in form, addressing institutional power structures by looking for ways in which we can overcome them. After four performances of 90 minutes each on Sat 21 and Sun 22 Oct, 11am and 2pm, the canvases will remain as an installation in the space.

Co-commissioned by Southwark Park Galleries, London, and Towner, Eastbourne, in partnership with Fruitmarket, Edinburgh