Bodily Remains, a new performance by Tai Shani

What you will do

Watch a newly commissioned performance, created by artist Tai Shani that takes the form of a chamber play.

About the event

Art Night and the Museum of London are pleased to announce the presentation of a new performance commission by Tai Shani at Fabric, London this Autumn, at 8pm on 25th October.

The collaboration is a precursor to Art Night’s transition to a national, biennial contemporary art festival and also celebrates the Museum of London’s impending relocation to West Smithfield.

The performance will take the form of a chamber play and is Shani’s first major performance project since DC: Semiramis for which she was nominated and collectively won the Turner Prize in 2019.

My bodily remains, your bodily remains, and all the bodily remains that ever were, and ever will be. (Down, skin, pelt, vellum, alert tangled roots, subcutaneous flesh, subterranean blind life) draws upon Smithfield’s history as one of London’s earliest execution sites and oscillates between somatic histories of political evil and love as an emancipatory power.

The play is inspired by various sources; classic works of literature including Destroy, She Said by Marguerite Duras, the writing of scholars including Jackie Wang and works by filmmakers such as Jacques Rivette. Shani’s commission is a poetic meditation on various historical resistance movements and groups, the spiritual dimensions of anti-supremacism, intersectional queer feminism, communism and revolutionary thinking to recognise the emancipatory power of love and pleasure as a catalyst for radical change.

Typical of Shani’s practice, My bodily remains, your bodily remains, and all the bodily remains that ever were, and ever will be will deploy a skillful interplay of dialogue and narration. Shani will use recurring moods and motifs to explore eroticism, dark powers, mystical experiences, feminist theory and the theme of Revolution – embodied in this performance as a ghost.

The play will feature an original live score composed by Shani’s long term collaborator Maxwell Sterling and Richard Fearless (Death in Vegas) alongside digital animations by Adam Sinclair also Shani’s long term collaborator. The play will also feature jewellery and set design by Shani.

Need to know

The event is free to attend but there is limited venue capacity, for this reason we will be broadcasting live on Art Night's youtube channel to enable access for a global audience with the assistance of media partner This is Tomorrow.

Live stream link here:

The duration of the play is approximately one hour, no interval.

There is disabled access in the venue and BSL will be available on request, please let us know if you require any further access information.

The play is suitable for 18+ adults.

Please arrive at least 15 minutes in advance.

There will be a bar service available at the venue.

About the creator

Tai Shani’s practice encompasses performance, film, photography and sculptural installations, frequently structured around experimental texts. She is the joint 2019 Turner Prize winner together with Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Helen Cammock and Oscar Murillo. In 2019 Tai was a Max Mara prize nominee. Her work has been shown at British Art Show 09, Touring (2021), CentroCentro, Madrid (2019-20), Turner Contemporary, UK (2019); Grazer Kunst Verein, Austria (2019); Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Italy (2019); Glasgow International, UK (2018); Wysing Arts Centre, UK (2017); Serpentine Galleries, London (2016); Tate, London (2016); Yvonne Lambert Gallery, Berlin (2016) and Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2016).

Credit Line:

My bodily remains, your bodily remains, and all the bodily remains that ever were, and ever will be. (Down, skin, pelt, vellum, alert tangled roots, subcutaneous flesh, subterranean blind life), Tai Shani, 2022. Courtesy Art Night and the Museum of London. Supported using public funding by Arts Council England. With further support from Simmons and Simmons, Mishcon de Reya and Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation.

Host or Publisher Art Night