Ron Athey & Dominic Johnson in conversation

Ron Athey & Dominic Johnson in conversation

Ron Athey will screen two short videos of his performance work and in the following discussion he and Dominic will explore ideas of extremity as a bearer of cultural and aesthetic politics and as a voice for a political understanding of violence, care of the self and transcendence of the literal and the limited and the consensual.

Ron Athey has been a central figure in the development of performance art since the 1980s. In his stagings of crisis, sexuality and death in the time of AIDS, Athey calls into question the limits of artistic practice. Athey has been a crucial figure in the development of performance art and body art; club performance; intersections between punk, queer and alternative cultures; sexual politics, specifically in relation to queer practices and the politics of HIV/AIDS; and the representation of religion and ritual.

Dominic Johnson is an artist and writer based in the UK. He is a Lecturer in the Department of Drama, Queen Mary, University of London, and publishes frequently on performance and visual culture. His research interests include: performance art, live art, and body-based practices since 1960; performance and visual culture; representations of sex, sexuality, and HIV/AIDS; and subcultural histories, including body modification and performance in alternative spaces.

This event is part of Blasphemy and Redemption, a series of talks and screenings curated and chaired by Adrian Rifkin in response to Roee Rosen: Vile, Evil Veil.

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Book online here. If you have enquiries please call 0207 749 1240 or email bookings@rivingtonplace.org.

NB. For a concessionary rate (students, over 60s, unemployed) please enter the promotional code iniva_concession. For group bookings of more than 4 people please contact Rivington Place reception.