Tributary
Bærum Kulturhus
tributary is shown at Bærum Kulturhus as part of CODA Dancefest 2021 22-27 October. Here you can find English versions of the exhibition texts and transcripts of the video texts.
An audio letter from Claire Cunningham to the CODA audience:
You can also read the text here:
Printed copies are available in the exhibition.
tributary is a work made with the long threads of research I undertook into the world of
professional Elvis Presley tribute artists, the reframing and sharing of technique by those who are often deemed to be unskilled or devalued, and the specific Crip aesthetics I saw in that famous icon’s movement vocabulary. Some of the research culminated in a theatre show, Thank You Very Much, with an ensemble of four performers, and other strands of that work exist here in this installation work created by myself with my co-performer and collaborator Vicky Malin. Our hope was to visit CODA Dancefest this year to perform Thank You Very Much in person, regrettably due to the pandemic this has not been possible, so instead we present here for you, tributary.
tributary is in part the memory or detritus of a performance-whether as a tribute artist or as a
disabled person. The installation also invites you to perform…listen to some of the advice from the tribute artists, then at designated times during the exhibition we invite you to don the cape, pick up the microphone, select your song from the playlist and step into the spectacular world of the tribute artist!
Claire Cunningham, Oct 2021.
tributary–karaoke
Thank you (very much) for being part of tributary.
At particular times during the exhibition we invite you to step into the spectacular world of the tribute artist and give us a song! Join us for karaoke hour:
Friday 22 October 12:00-13:00
Saturday 23 October 12:00-13:00
Wednesday 27 October 12:00-15:00
There are 2 rules for the performance:
You must sing a song from the back catalogue of Elvis Presley
You must wear the white cape provided.
(You might want to stand under one of the nice spotlights, but you don’t have to!)
Enjoy!
N.B. Please note I take no responsibility for any possible misogyny, ableism, etc contained within the song you may choose to sing.
Regards,
Claire Cunningham
tributary–film transcripts