Jamila Johnson Small at Block Universe 2018

Gaia Art Foundation and Block Universe co-commissioned a new performance from Jamila Johnson Small (also known as SERAFINE1369 and Last Yearz Interesting Negro), for Block Universe 2018. Jamila Johnson Small's work prompts questions of presence, visibility, responsibility and pleasure. Trained in dance, Jamila Johnson Small uses choreography, video, sound and sculpture to create atmospheric performances that disrupt and deflect gazes directed towards their body.

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For FuryZ, her project as part of Block Universe 2018, Jamila Johnson Small has produced an immersive performance that questions boundaries, intimacy and spectacle, and will be staged within Reliance Square, which has been dramatically transformed to resemble a nightclub. As Aida Amoako writes in Tank Magazine: “Johnson-Small danced in front of a projection of a video also titled FuryZ, an abstract collage of clips and audio where the artist’s body is dismembered by close-ups. She becomes a blazon of dancing thighs, wringing hands, collarbones and a disembodied voice for our consumption.”

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Block Universe was on view at various locations around London from 26 May – 3 June 2018.

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