Tenant was a solo show of new work by German artist, Grace Schwindt. The exhibition featured a film work also titled Tenant and a site-specific performance, Glass and Honey.
Tenant took an interview as a starting point, which the artist conducted with her grandparents; it told the story of a woman who rented a room in their home during the Second World War and who turned out to be a friend of Vladimir Lenin. She had helped him to travel from Switzerland to Russia in the 'sealed train' after the 'February Revolution' broke out in Russia in 1917.
From this interview, the artist developed a fictional script, the dialogue forming the soundtrack to the film. Tenant was divided into ten chapters and each chapter represented a different space in a family home with minimal theatrical sets. With 21 dancers, the artist penetrate the sets, and together they carried out a complex choreography while speaking the dialogue.
Glass and Honey, 22 April 2012
Developed as a site-specific performance for Collective, Glass and Honey explored the commodification of social relations and alienation in capitalist society. The performance utilised the large front window of the gallery to separate the performance from the audience, who viewed it outside.
In the centre of the performance was a large glass sculpture filled with honey that hung from the ceiling and circled continuously. The honey dripped and left a trace. The artist walked back and forward, careful not to be hit by the swinging sculpture, then picked up charcoal and wrote a text on a built wall that divided the gallery space further. The artist spoke the text together with another performer into a microphone that was placed to face the audience.
Grace Schwindt developed Glass and Honey with dramaturg, Aja Golob. It was performed by Jia-Yu Corti and Grace Schwindt.
Grace Schwindt was born in 1979 in Germany and is now an artist based in London, mainly working with video and film. She completed an MA in Fine Art at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. She has shown her work internationally including at the White Columns in NYC, EASTInternational in Norwich, S1 Artspace in Sheffield, UK and the Museum of Modern Art in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Read an interview with Grace Schwint for Glass and Honey in Line magazine here
Tenant was commissioned by Film London Artist's Moving Image Network and Collective, Edinburgh. It was produced by City Projects, London.
This is an archived programme entry.
