Experience a moving, but joyous, new dance piece from renowned choreographer Christopher Matthews.
Christopher Matthews’ practice spans choreography, installation and visual art. His works explore subjects such as gender, body image, queerness, and class.
Inspired by the themes of SICK, our current exhibition from artist Sarah Roberts, Matthews’ exploratory work references the HIV crisis. Much of the nineties pop and rave music featured in SICK was created in response to the HIV crisis, a joyful action against scapegoating and stigma. Using the euphoric anthems experienced in the exhibition, this piece is a tribute to the sick and sick-adjacent, who queer communities were dancing for in the clubs during that period.
Responding to the 1970 performance Floor of the Forest by American choreographer and dancer Trisha Brown, Matthews will utilise donated red clothes in a mesmeric act of dressing and undressing.
The performance will run in tandem with Matthews’ experiential intervention, lay still, here.
If you have any red items to contribute, please drop them off at our donation point in The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, email
c3R1ZGlvbWFuYWdlciB8IGZvcm1lZHZpZXcgISBjb20=, or bring them with you to the performance.
This will be a durational installation, so you can drop in at any time, and experience it for anywhere from 15 minutes to the full hour and a half.
The performance will be a physical act of memorial.
Christopher Matthews - Biography
Christopher Matthews is an award winning American-born choreographer, performer and visual artist working from London. Matthews holds a BFA from New York University Tisch School of the Arts and an MA in Choreography from Trinity Laban. His video and performance works have been presented internationally, including at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Sadler’s Wells, Art Night 2018, Yorkshire Dance, Enclave Gallery, Arbyte Gallery, ]performance space[, Chisenhale Dance Space, MonArt Digital Art, CollectArt, LimaZulu, 4BID Gallery, Mount Florida Gallery, Castlefield Gallery, Prism Contemporary, Millennium, Reykjavik Dance Festival, Cent Quatre, MCLA Gallery 51, Villa Empain, Loop Video Art Festival, and was named a 2024 Blue Chip Finalist. As a performer, Matthews works with Trajal Harrell on his national and international presentations. He is a dancer in the Oscar-winning blockbuster Wicked directed by John Chu, and the upcoming film The Magic Faraway Tree.
SICK is supported by the Henry Moore Foundation.
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