In 2017 artist Eloise Fornieles was invited to participate in Nir Segal's Outset Baker Street Residency.
In response to Segal's invitation to respond to the residency space, Fornieles spent time working on her ongoing investigation of the value system encoded within what is deemed ‘free’ and intersect this with her research into identity and gender narratives. A short story was an installation which could act as a place for people to find calm during the day. People were invited to write short stories or sit quietly and read from a selection of books provided. When they entered the space they were invited to hand over their phones and use the time to be free from the distraction of social networks.
These sessions were hosted by Eric Self, an anthropomorphised rabbit character that the artist uses in live and filmed performances. Eric welcomed people, explained the layout, invited them to write their short stories and gave participants tea and biscuits. All writing was done on paper and photocopied, so the participants could have a copy of their story. There were six work stations available and each station had to be booked in advance via email. The placements were advertised at UCL, Live Art Development Agency and Artsadmin. Eloise Fornieles published a small edition of the short stories after the event.
Additionally, a speed dating event and a spoken word karaoke evening were hosted by Eric Self.
RESIDENCY: 4th April – 30th May 2017
Eloise Fornieles is a London-based artist. Her practice is predominantly performance-based, using anthropomorphised characters to interrogate the ways in which gender is performed and how culturally assimilated narratives and archetypes impact our understanding of gender and personal identity. Her body of work over the past decade focused on endurance performance within installations, often including one-to-one interactions with audience members. This has developed into spoken word pieces, which use characters, costumes and altered vocals as a means of investigating gender narratives. Fornieles has performed and exhibited widely nationally and internationally including New York, Madrid, Tel-Aviv, Paris, Moscow, Miami, Buenos Aires, Amsterdam and Beijing. Fornieles received the ArtsAdmin Award supported by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation 2013, was long-listed for the Derek Jarman film award 2015 and was on the Slade School of Fine Art practice-led PhD programme.
