Third World Bunfight / Brett Bailey Exhibit B - 23-27.09.14
Described by Peter Brook as ‘an extraordinary achievement’, this haunting installation sets out to subvert a disturbing phenomenon, turning the notion of exotic spectacle on its head.
Exhibit B replicates the ‘human zoos’ and ethnographic displays that showed Africans as objects of scientific curiosity through the 19th and early 20th centuries. Translated here into twelve tableaux, each features motionless performers placed in settings drawn from real life. Collectively they confront colonial atrocities committed in Africa, European notions of racial supremacy and the plight of immigrants today.
As spectators walk past the exhibits one-by-one, to the sound of lamentations sung live by a Namibian choir, a human gaze is unexpectedly returned.
'An emotional shock that the whole of Avignon [Festival] has been talking about since it opened' Le Monde (France)
Approx 40 mins from the following times 18:30, 18:50, 19:10, 19:30, 20:50, 21:10, 21:30, 21:50
Age guidance 14+ (contains nudity and images of violence)
This is a promenade performance taking place on several floors. Patrons with reduced mobility are welcome to attend all performances of Exhibit B, but due to the architecture of the building, some access restrictions apply. Please advise Box Office of any access requirements.
Conceived and directed by Brett Bailey.
Presented by the Barbican.
