Performance: Beyond Relentless Acceleration

This intervention involves arranging a race around at Nottingham Contemporary. This is no ordinary race as unlike most sporting contests, the winner is the last person to cross the finish line at 5:15 pm. Competitors can go as slow as they want, they can take a nap if they wish and go in any direction. The race will be animated by Dadaist commentary and prizes will be given to people taking part.

This absurd yet humane and inclusive race deliberately allows the gallery space to be occupied according to each individual’s pace. The motivation to win is not fuelled by domination or defeat. The only rule is that participants need to move at their own pace; their ‘movement’ is choice and free to be interpreted.

The core idea of Beyond Relentless Acceleration was formed as a reaction to the reneging of promises made by the able world during the pandemic of 2020; that society would not see a return to business as usual. There was the possibility of ‘allowing’ people to humanly proceed, working from home and increasing productivity in a non-rushed, less demanding way. However, fraudulent and ableist concerns about the economy, forced activity, get-back-to-work or get sacked and the winning of more profit soon overshadowed this momentary reprieve to an accessible pace of life.

Beyond Relentless Acceleration provides an opportunity to caringly observe, acknowledge and live document a sample variety of nuanced human movement, action and activity that otherwise is ignored at the expense of conventional and stigmatised; toxic ideas of ‘achievement’ and ‘accomplishment’, which are predicated on competition and defeat of the other. Beyond Relentless Acceleration is an everyday happening that is ‘officially’ acknowledged and ‘allowed’ to happen.

Dada is playful subversion, concerned with preoccupation, the ‘hobby-horse’ we just can’t shake off. Among most artists and disabled artists even more so ‘worthiness’ and ‘imposter syndrome’ and even ‘belonging’ is a challenge. The anti-social model of disability projects upon our lives and addiction to hyperactivity, achievement and winning, as the core components of our addiction, the anti-social hobby horse, to survival itself.

Beyond Relentless Acceleration challenges fundamental notions of “worthiness”, subverting the idea of winning and inherently subverts the survival of the fittest. This has affected most if not all people with disabilities. The idea that the fastest is the best, the intervention also reveals the detail of existence happening in slow motion, attention is actually paid to who is doing what and how.

By not having heavily imposed rules for the race we are kicking against the idea that we should all be playing by the same rules.

To mark the 102nd anniversary of the 1st Dada International Exhibition in Berlin, 31 d/Deaf, Disabled and Neurodivergent artists will stage Dada inspired interventions in 30 museums and galleries across Britain and Northern Ireland on the same day on Saturday 2 July 2022.

The interventions cover a wide range including performative; time based; ephemeral; quirky; unusual; minimal; solo/duo/group; digital and much more. The project asks the question – What if the Dada movement had started in 2020 in lockdown? What would they have done? Is now a timely moment to resurrect the spirit and essence of Dada?

We Are Invisible We Are Visible (WAIWAV) is presented by DASH, the disabled-led visual arts organisation, and was awarded the 2021 Ampersand Prize.

The museums and galleries include: Arnolfini, Baltic, Centre for Contemporary Art Derry, Firstsite, Focal Point Gallery, Golden Thread Gallery, Grizedale Arts, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Harris Museum and Art Gallery, HOME, The Hepworth Wakefield, Ikon, John Hansard Gallery, Leeds Art Gallery, Liverpool Biennial, Manchester Art Gallery, MIMA, MK Gallery, Modern Art Oxford, Newlyn Art Gallery, Nottingham Contemporary, The Pier Arts Centre, Site Gallery, Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, Tate Modern, Tate St Ives, Towner Eastbourne, Turner Contemporary and VOID.

About the event

Free. Limited Capacity.

Booking is required.

We are unable to provide British Sign Language interpretation for this event.

Access

Find information about getting here and our building access and facilities here.

There are no audio descriptions for this event.

If you have any questions around access or have specific access requirements we can accommodate, please get in touch with us by emailing info@nottinghamcontemporary.org.

Safety during your visit

Due to COVID precautions, please do not attend this event if you/someone in your household is currently COVID-19 positive, has suspected symptoms, or is awaiting test results.

Please observe social distancing.

Staff and visitors are encouraged to wear a face mask in all areas (unless medically exempt).

You can find more details about how we're keeping everyone safe here.

Ashokkumar Mistry is based in Leicester. He is a lens media artist working with video and photograph and since graduating with a degree in fine art in 1996 has been working as both an artist and curator contributing to exhibitions and creative interventions and developing new ways of engaging audiences and developing immersive experiences around the UK. His work has been exhibited at New Art Exchange Nottingham and Peepul Centre Leicester and commissioned for the Southbank Centre. Recently Ashok’s photographic work has centred on the evolving fate of Britain’s plural cities and transition of the photographic image to the graphic. He developed Methods of Misunderstanding, a project that explored how data flows through situations and mediates our relationship with technology. He is currently developing projects in East Asia.

DASH is a Disabled led visual arts charity. It creates opportunities for Disabled artists to develop their creative practice. These opportunities take many forms, from high-quality commissions to community-based workshops, the work it creates is centred around its vision and mission.

During the last ten years DASH has undertaken truly ground-breaking work – projects that have challenged perceptions, fostered and mentored new d/Deaf and Disabled artists, encouraged professional development and helped to engineer change in the sector.