ICA is closed from the 30 May – 3 June inclusive.
Image designed by Josh Woolford
eye to eye (dreaming hyper in visibility) is a new choreographic performance and installation by artist Jose Funnell that centres the gaze as a material as well as a mechanism of power. Underscored by the shifting dynamics of looking and being watched, eye to eye alchemises movement, sound, presence and moving image to conjure what is lost and what is opened in a world dominated by vision.
eye to eye grapples with the politics of looking, seeing and fantasizing: the struggle to visualise the new when saturated with phantom images of the past; the potential misalignment of personal and collective utopias; and the fact that increased visibility does not equate to power.
Using somatic practices, social dance, and various technologies of the gaze, the performance celebrates the radical potential of embodiment as a site of exchange in service of collective change. It asks what needs to be exorcised from the imaginative landscape, both from the technologies that reproduce it and the bodies that contain it. Binaries burn, and in the ashes, we rise to dream of a world unbound by the limits of the screen.
eye to eye has been created with and performed by Amani, Pierre and Wet Mess. With set design by Rose Moya, costume design and styling by Justin Carlo Villamor and lighting design by Edward Saunders. Composed through a collaborative exchange, the work features an original soundscape scored and spatialised by Dr. Hannah Catherine Jones.
Amani is a London-based actor, model, community organiser and Vogue Fem ballroom dancer. Their work as a model and dancer has been spotlighted by ICA, English National Opera, Illamasqua & Royal College of Art. As an actor, Amani has worked with Travis Alabanza on the Soundworlds’ podcast play Are You Ready, B*tch and recently played the role of Stasi in Sundown Kiki at the Young Vic Theatre.
Dr. Hannah Catherine Jones (aka Foxy Moron) is a London-based artist, scholar, multi-instrumentalist, broadcaster and DJ (BBC Radio / TV, NTS’ The Opera Show), composer, conductor, founder of Peckham Chamber Orchestra, a community project established in 2013, and founder of Chiron Choir, a queer diasporic choir established in 2022. Dr. Jones has performed and exhibited widely, internationally, including NIRIN at the 22nd Bienniale of Sydney (2020), produced the solo show Owed to Chiron (The Wounded Healer) in London (2022), and currently has a new 4-channel sonic artwork UPRISINGS (troppo lento) at the National Gallery as part of Artist-In-Residence Céline Condorelli’s exhibition Pentimenti (The Corrections), open until January 2024.
Jose Funnell is an interdisciplinary artist, dancer and activist based in London.Through live performance, sound and the workshop space, their practice explores the radical potential of embodiment as a site of critical pedagogy, healing and liberation. Their work considers the experiential dynamics of sharing space and the emancipatory potential of performing agency within contexts of historic negation. Both their artistic practice and activist work aims to center and serve those most alienated by the historic projects of white supremacy and the imperialist, capitalist patriarchy. They have presented solo work at the ICA (London); Les Urbaines (Lausanne, Switzerland), Steakhouse Live (London), Slap Festival (York), The Albany (London), CLAY (Leeds) and Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Zamek Ujazdowski (Warsaw). They have facilitated workshops for the Barbican, Cell Project Space, Migration Matters Festival, Prepster, Lovetank, Metro Charity and Live Art Development Agency. They have performed internationally with collaborators at institutions including Tate Modern (London), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), the Swiss Institute (New York), Museu Serralves (Porto), Bergen Kunsthall (Bergen), Whitechapel Gallery (London), the Serpentine Gallery (London), and the Royal Academy (London).
Pierre (they/them) is a dance artist and movement director based in London. Their practice focuses on dance, using movement to explore queer history, rejection, sexualization and hope. They implore elements of contemporary dance, Paraguayan dance and their own movement language. Their work has been shown across the UK, including presentations at the RVT, V&A Lates, Somerset House, Wellcome Collection Reading Room, The Yard, CCA Goldsmiths Gallery, Ugly Duck & The Place. They have established a performance practice collaborating, sharing knowledge and performing for international artists Anthea Hamilton, Adham Faramawy, Sakeema Crook, Ava Kouchak, Wet Mess, Zoë Marden and Sam Williams. In 2017 they co-founded Pierre & Baby with Luke Bafico, a queer dance duo. They also co-run queer dance platform & party MIND UR HEAD with Fraser Buchanan, a space dedicated to nurturing and giving opportunities to emerging and more established artists working in performance.
Wet Mess is a wet mess, horny for your confusion. Let it all out and guess again at the insecure balding white man/pussy prince/alien baby. Have a lollygag, think about your fantasy flesh suits, call me sweet prince, and remember Roger in a kaftan. Choose to make some silly campy decisions, with all the hairy thems and dykey men. Mainly thinking about cunnilingus cunni cunni lingus but also being more unknown than known. All I really wanna do is strip for the stripper and drive her home with the dogs.
eye to eye is supported by Wysing Arts Centre and Arts Council England.
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