The Touching Contract

Thursday & Friday 18 November 7pm. 
Saturday & Sunday: 2pm & 7pm. Free. Tickets must be booked in advance by phone calling 07391924258.

Artists Sarah Browne and Jesse Jones take to the Court Roomn to investigate the political gesture of touch through a series of immersive performances in The Touching Contract.

Following previous events in Dublin, Derry and Liverpool, this project examines The State from the perspective of the female body. Audience members at the performances will be asked to sign a “touching contract”, detailing their consent to participate in the performance.  This contract, devised in collaboration with legal academic and activist Máiréad Enright, has been developed in discussion with an invited group of women in London. This group has explored with the artists how we encounter the touch of the law every day, with and without consent. This contact with the State will be interpreted by an ensemble of female performers who will deliver a variety of forms of touch directly to the audience, from playful to medical, set against a soundscape by composer and sound designer Alma Kelliher.

In each city where the project has taken place, Sarah and Jesse have brought together experts in law, medicine, material culture and music, as well as engaging with women’s groups and communities of interest, to explore and critique statehood from the perspective of the female body.

The Touching Contract is part of In the Shadow of the State, a collaborative project by artists Sarah and Jesse held in historically resonant spaces in the UK and Ireland throughout 2016. The project examines how institutions, laws and practices of the State have impacted on the female body. This is the first collaboration between Sarah and Jesse.

Commissioned and produced by Artangel and Create (Ireland).