Florence Peake and Eve Stainton Slug Horizons

PS/Y’s Hysteria programme and CoolTan Arts present workshops and a new performance by Florence Peake and Eve Stainton.

Although the study of hysteria is multifaceted, historically the term hysteria has been defined by men and associated with women: the male gaze of society observing and analysing women’s bodies and behaviours. Florence Peake and Eve Stainton’s on-going collaborative project Slug Horizons radically reimagines this relationship by exploring the expressive potentialities of women’s bodies through intimacy, touch and collective reclaiming. Their work promotes an emotional landscape of bravery in response to restrictive normative attitudes to the intimate bodies of women.

Through a residency at CoolTan Arts, Peake and Stainton will develop their project, holding workshops that invite CoolTan Arts participants and the public into their development process. The residency will culminate in a new performance on Friday 16 February, 7.00 pm.

During the public workshop on Sunday 11 February (3.00 – 5.00 pm), artists and participants will explore sound-vibrations, intimacy and qualities of touch through movement, discussion, reflective drawing and writing.

Florence Peake is a London-based artist, dancer, choreographer, and teacher, who has been making work since 1995. Her performance practice uses drawing, painting and sculpture combined with found and fabricated objects placed in relation to the moving body. Site and audience, live and recorded text, wit and candour are key to her work, which has been presented internationally and across the UK, in contexts including Wysing Arts Centre (2017), Serpentine Galleries (2016), Whitechapel Gallery (2016), ICA (2015), Harris Museum (2015), Hayward Gallery (2014), BALTIC (2013), Frieze (2013), Yorkshire Sculpture Park (2012). Florence Peake is a certified teacher of Skinner Releasing Technique, and has taught Contemporary dance technique, improvisation, and cross art form practice extensively.

Eve Stainton is an artist occupied with dancing, the process of creating performance, collaboration (notably with Michael Kitchin as The Uncollective) and recently digital collage making. Eve Stainton’s artistic work focuses on developing a space to engage with dialogue around queer identity politics, often revealing intimate parts of her life to imagine futures beyond normative societal pressures. Eve Stainton and The Uncollective have presented works at Tangente Theatre Montreal (2017), Royal Academy of Art (2017), Adelaide Fringe (2017), Guest Projects (2016), Chisenhale (2015) and The Place (2014). She also performs in the fashion and commercial industry including Vivienne Westwood, Dior, London/Paris/Shanghai Fashion Week, Goldfrapp, St Vincent and Holly Blakey.

CoolTan Arts is an award-winning arts in mental health charity for adults with experience of mental health distress, operating in South London for over 25 years. They run a vibrant community arts centre, providing a safe and supportive space, which offers creative workshops, self-advocacy, art projects, stigma-busting cultural walks, a public art gallery and an inclusive volunteering and training programme. They provide creative outlets for self-expression through art workshops, and give adults training, support and volunteering opportunities to help build professional and personal skills. Believing that mental wellbeing is enhanced by the power of creativity, they aim to help people reintegrate into life again with their friends, family and pursue education and employment.