Nicole Stiff &
Parice Bowyer
February 2021 - May 2021
Nicole Stiff is a long durational performance artist with a knack for collaboration and an unhealthy obsession with rotting jars.
Primarily working in film, photography and performance, Parice Bowyer is re-contextualising existentialism for the 21st century.
As a series of performances framed as a film, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury explores performance in relation to camera. The pair have delved into the world of Absurdism, entangling their practices as a means to challenge notions of performance, in a time where traditional methods cease to function. Nicole’s performances echo the destructiveness and violence of Vienesse Actionism, as her autodiegetic character spirals out into existential crisis.
The script, written by writer Kaylen Forsyth and voiced by James Ockenden, is inspired by Kafka’s The Trial and provides the spiralling narrative of the piece, once combined with the piano accompaniment from artist Carys Kilduff. The vast range of influences, from existential texts to contemporary screenplays, speaks of a wider narrative and the prevailing conversation of being defined by the media we consume and its distortion on our world view.
