Trace Installaction Artspace - Performance / Performance Venue that combined Performance Art and Installation Space

Abstract

Trace is a combined performance art and installation space (the converted ground floor of a terraced house) that I initiated in 2000 as a curatorial enquiry into the material remains of performances which are normally cleared-up or discarded. Performance artworks are always temporary and often influenced by the environment in which they occur. It is the relation between a performance and what it leaves behind – in terms of documentation, installation or trace elements – that is my principal research interest. Artists are invited each month to present a live investigation with the 'trace' elements of this activity exhibited as an installation open to the public. The traces allow continued observation and reflection on the (performative) process, which would not otherwise be available from conventional photographic documentation. Remaining as traces, the artist and public can study them as elements which draw on and inform not just performance but a range of visual arts practices, typically, performance, installation, sculpture and painting. The traces also suggest new possibilities as to what might constitute the documentation of performance art. During the period 2001 – 2007 Trace forty individual artists have produced performance/installation exhibitions within the space, exploring the possibilities of documentation outlined above. Artists included Jimmy Durham (USA), Stuart Brisley (UK), Alaistair MacLennan (UK), Seiji Shimoda (Japan), and Esther Ferrer (Spain).