Project Description

Ad Spatium was a one night event which took place in the Musikhuset, Gävle, Sweden on 12 February 2022.

It featured the work of 14 artists and was curated by Marten Tollin. 

Nobody Home

For the event I created a new performance work entitled Nobody Home. I used a space of 5 x 5 meters of paper affixed to the floor, and strengthened charcoal. The performance took place in the centre of the event space, and lasted approx 45 minutes.  

The performance was covered by journalist Kristian Ekenberg for a local Newspaper, who quoted

‘This is how the lighting is dimmed and the white square in the middle of the floor is explained. Creeping on the floor, to a soundscape that sounds a bit like an alien on a spaceship trying to screw in a radio channel, come performance artist Rachel Macmanus. Her way of working is a bit reminiscent of the acclaimed work from Gävle Hospital that Fatima Moallim painted. It is the creation in the moment, the performative, that is the core of the work. It is a very physical painting that we witness in the white square, where Rachel Macmanus with all the possibilities of the body fills the blank sheet with the colour of the crayons. Even her white dress turns into a cloth.’ 

See below for documentation of the performance. Photos courtesy of Paula Boyle