Seen and Not Heard (eating crisps)
2018
Performance at Talbot Rice Gallery as part of Trading Zone.
Hourly waged hospitality workers were hired through a waiting agency to perform as 'disobedient' event staff at an exhibition opening. The work is a critique of the strict yet discreet mannerisms required to be performed in events service work. There’s often an alarming number of rules and specificities about how to behave regardless of whether guests notice or not. This includes precise actions that are formally expected such as positioning a wine bottle label to face a guest whilst pouring. The performers were encouraged to enact the furtive things that happen when no one is looking like eating, sitting and chatting.
Photography by Erika Stevenson
