ellipsis
Formally speaking, this work deliberately engages with repetition and the rich associations of certain objects/materials and tasks/action. Conceptually speaking, it is a quietly political work that tests the effectiveness and limits of metaphor, giving each spectator the agency/responsibility to read/complete the piece as they wish. This is because the work is centred on an ellipsis, a gap the audience are invited to fill, a white piece of fabric that spectators are told to imagine instead as a more specific and culturally loaded piece of fabric, such as a (...). Leaning into this ambiguity and opnennes, each of the sections making up the work is titled 'SANCTION', which is a contronym, auto-autonym, or Janus word (i.e. it has two opposing meanings).
As well as featuring a visual ellipsis (i.e. the white piece of fabric), the performance contains an autal ellipsis too. The piece is soundtracked by a chamber accompaniment for Boccherini's famous 'Minuet'. However, the violin(s) carrying the main and well-known melody have been ellided, thus making the music seem unfamiliar. Boccherini's recognisbale tune does not feature until the very end, and does so in only in a streched and slowed down way. Opening the piece there is a brief projected text written by Dr Thomas White, which I rewrote and repurposed.
As a separate artefact, which was generated through the work with the collaboration of audience members and which outlives the performance, is ellipsis afterlife- a postmortem album.
As well as featuring a visual ellipsis (i.e. the white piece of fabric), the performance contains an autal ellipsis too. The piece is soundtracked by a chamber accompaniment for Boccherini's famous 'Minuet'. However, the violin(s) carrying the main and well-known melody have been ellided, thus making the music seem unfamiliar. Boccherini's recognisbale tune does not feature until the very end, and does so in only in a streched and slowed down way. Opening the piece there is a brief projected text written by Dr Thomas White, which I rewrote and repurposed.
As a separate artefact, which was generated through the work with the collaboration of audience members and which outlives the performance, is ellipsis afterlife- a postmortem album.
Photographic documentation by Victoria Beddoes.
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Photographic documentation by Victoria Beddoes.
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Photographic documentation by T. White and C. Radcliffe.
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The specific context for the first presentation of this piece, on 24th June 2025 as part of the University of Birmingham's College of Arts and Law Research Festival, was fundamental in the shaping of the work. Given particular time constraints, the piece had to avoid triggering the university’s 'regulatory requirements'.
As is often the case, limitations became an opportunity to go beyond initial ideas and push creativity further. The piece was shaped through a generous and productive email exchange with Dr Thomas White, primarily between 4th and 5th June (see below), but which also extended beyond this initial contact, continuing to feed the work.
In the process, the piece exchanged its initially-proposed specificity for semantic openness. Rather than seeking to communicate a clear or singular message, it hopes to open up a meditative space that fosters the subjectivity and criticality of each audience member.
As is often the case, limitations became an opportunity to go beyond initial ideas and push creativity further. The piece was shaped through a generous and productive email exchange with Dr Thomas White, primarily between 4th and 5th June (see below), but which also extended beyond this initial contact, continuing to feed the work.
In the process, the piece exchanged its initially-proposed specificity for semantic openness. Rather than seeking to communicate a clear or singular message, it hopes to open up a meditative space that fosters the subjectivity and criticality of each audience member.
ellipsis afterlife
a post-mortem album
(LISTEN HERE)
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