Book launch of 'Stuart Brisley: Performance and its Afterlives'

Chief Exec of DACS (2009-2022) Gilane Tawadros conducted a series of interviews with the legendary British performance artist Stuart Brisley, published by Book Works this month.

DACS and Book Works presented an event in celebration of the publication of Stuart Brisley interviews: Performance and its Afterlives.

This book of interviews sees the legendary artist Stuart Brisley reflect on 70 years of work, and the specific nature of performance and its afterlives; both transient and lasting traces which are manifest through documentation, audience experiences, and recollections of the performances by Brisley and others.

Gilane Tawadros, who conducted the interviews, was joined in a panel discussion by Prof Michael Newman, Professor of Art Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London, Dr Sanja Perovic, Co-Director of the Centre of Enlightenment Studies, Kings College London, and William Fowler of the British Film Institute to discuss the ‘godfather of British performance art’, whose radical, often physically challenging performance works pushed the boundaries of the relationship between artist and audience.

The evening was chaired by Mark Waugh, Co-Artistic Director of the Art360 Foundation.

Known as an enfant terrible of British Art, Brisley’s work, while often shocking and provocative, is consistently socially and politically informed, concerned with the conflict between human autonomy and the forces of state power and capitalism. Through his work, the panellists will explore the themes that recur through the interviews and the unique ways in which live art can confront and respond to political, social and historical ideas and events.

This event was accompanied by a programme of three of Brisley’s films: Being and Doing, Arbeit Macht Frei and Next Door.