Act III

I went round to the house to pick up my stuff
             Aylish and Holly were there
                           Holly showed me her new bra 
                                                 Red
                           A accidently dropped it in my martini glass 
                                                 Panicked
                           Tried to wash it out breaking the martini glass 
                                  More people arrived
      Everyone weirded out by me being there
                                  The kitchen was full
                                      Making it difficult to find my stuff
                   I stepped on the cats grey hairless tail 
           Knocked some more stuff over
    Anxiously cleaning up after myself 
           Endless circle
           I just wanted to get out of there before you got back 
    So did everybody else
    The awkwardness was piercing



                          When I finally managed to leave
                               I found you out by the bins 
                                      You looked dead
                               Flies everywhere
                Your toe sticking out of the broken trainers
                A crow picking at it
                       The seagulls drawing near



                                         Crgh
                         Crgh
                                                    Crgh
Crgh
                Crgh
I was in one of two teams. Rummaging through rubble. Locating objects to construct a giant armour. A sort of Elizabethan dress with a spiky collar. Drones flying above. Filming. Broadcasting live. A race against time. Some sort of threat. Entity. Global disaster. The dystopian setting looked authentic. Homeless people as extras. A few fake set pieces of derelict buildings. The illusion became a reality. The end drawing nearer. Panic. I ran off.
Stole an abandoned car. Keys still in the ignition. Traffic jam. Everyone trying to flee the city. Impossible to move. I abandoned the car. Ran back to the studio. The half finished armour had been dismantled. Made into a new set. A new film crew. A film with Brigitte Nielsen back in her prime.
Heavy breathing. My muscles were cramping up. Brigitte Nielsen squeezed my arm. Rubbed my shoulders. Her long fingernails ran through my hair. My head resting in the crack of her giant breasts. She pushed me further inside. She told me, she knows all about anxiety. She has had her fair bit of drama in her life. My breathing stopped. It went all dark. I was climbing through rubble towards a slither of light. A hatch. I climbed inside. An end of the world warehouse party. Robert Owens was singing live on a house track. After the rain. After
this pain. 
   Too much
          Too much
     Too much 
Too much rain. 
  Sunshine.
      Good times.
     My life.
Sunshine.

I was captured.
Entered into a game.
A serial Killer on the loose.
Solve the mystery before he ends you.
A fight to the death.
I was stabbed.
Damaged body parts discarded.
Reassembled with healthy tissue.
Revived.
Another mystery.
Another fight to the death.
Another.
Another.


Bodies becoming more and more obscure.
The axe killer chopped off my head.
Set fire to my body.
My eyes sending images to my withering brain.
The smell of scorched flesh.
Fire turning pink.
Purple.
Dark blue.
Black.
Black.
Black out.


I woke on the operating table.
Felt the scar around my neck.
In the mirror I saw my large head roughly attacked to a tiny body.
I grabbed my sore throat.
I tried to scream.
Damaged vocal cord.
A strange sound creeping out.
Muffling the words:
“I think I want to wake up now!” 

ACT III

Adam Christensen, Death by Mystery, 2020

Adam Christensen is a London-based artist whose practice is realised through performance, moving image, textile, music and installation. Adam’s performances are based on his immediate experiences, coloured by the theatricality of the everyday, the spectacle of domesticity, chance encounters and emotional and physical dramas. Adam has previously exhibited at Overgaden Institute of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen; Baltic Triennial 13, Vilnius, Tallinn and Riga; Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; and Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art, London. He also performs with music project Ectopia.

Sets and Scenarios is a collaboration between Jade Barget, Angela Blanc, Panos Fourtoulakis, Sha Li, Yi-Ning Lin, Charlotte dos Santos, and Lindsey Wiercioch as part of the MA Curating Contemporary Art Programme Graduate Projects 2020, Royal College of Art, London in partnership with Nottingham Contemporary.

Every evening, on the homepage, a screening programme presents moving image works interrogating the relationship between viewer and screen as moving images penetrate retina and ear, before creeping beneath the skin.

Tuesday June 16, 8 pm

Shahryar Nashat, Image is an Orphan, 2017, 18 min. 22 sec-  loop 1 hour

Please be aware that the work contains violent imagery.

Wednesday June 17, 8 pm

Deborah Stratman, Vever (for Barbara), 2019, 12 min.
James Richards and Steve Reinke, What Weakens the Flesh is the Flesh Itself, 2017, 40 min.

Please be aware that works within this screening contain female and male nudity, and sexual content. 

Thursday June 18, 8 pm

Ken McMullen, Ghost Dance, 1983, 5:23 min. (excerpt)
Thuy-Han Nguyen-Chi, Syncrisis, movement I, 2018-ongoing, 7:54 min.
Mary Helena Clark, Orpheus (outtakes), 2013, 6:08 min.
Cerith Wyn Evans, Degrees of Blindness, 1988, 19 min.

Please be aware that works within this screening contain flashing images and lights.

Friday June 19, 8 pm

Eva Gold, Perv City (Act I), 2020, 30 sec.
Bette Gordon, Variety, 1983, 01:40:00 min.

Please be aware that some of the works within this screening contain female nudity and sexual content.

Saturday June 20, 8 pm

Sidsel Meineche Hansen, Seroquel, 2014, 8:11 min.
Adam Christensen, The Last Fucking Rave, 2015, 12 min.
James Richards, Not Blacking out Just Turning the Lights off, 2012, 16 min.

Please be aware that works within this screening contain female nudity.

Sunday June 21, 12 pm

Closing
All moving image works presented throughout the week will be streamed together in a day-long stream that will mark the end of Sets and Scenarios‘ live programme.

Sets and Scenarios is a collaboration between Jade Barget, Angela Blanc, Panos Fourtoulakis, Sha Li, Yi-Ning Lin, Charlotte dos Santos, and Lindsey Wiercioch as part of the MA Curating Contemporary Art Programme Graduate Projects 2020, Royal College of Art, London in partnership with Nottingham Contemporary.