John Court (b. 1969, UK) has been living in Tornio, Finland, since 1997. Court is a durational performance artist. Time is one of the most important elements in his work. Often, he performs for 8 hours, the length of a work day. Other times he performs throughout an entire event or during the opening hours of the specific venue (museum, institution), in which the event takes place, on each single day. Lately he has been interested in letting the objects and materials that he uses in his performances determine the duration of his work. He does not consider his performances as solo pieces, since the element of collaboration is inherent in them, be it through his engagement with curators, organizers, artists, viewers, objects, spaces and time. Court’s works are responsive to the site and often the continuous, repetitive action creates a rhythm that runs parallel to that of the site. In all his works, he is fundamentally concerned with drawing or writing, as drawing connects line, movement, space and time. He has exhibited extensively in Scandinavia, and has been invited to perform at major events such as UP-ON Live Art festival Chengdu China, SIGNAL Festival in Brussels Belgium (2017) Beijing Live in China (2016), Viva! Art Action festival in Montreal, Canada (2015), 7a*11d in Toronto, Canada, DigitaLive in Guangzhou, China (2014), SpaceX Gallery Exeter in UK (2012), Guangzhou Live Art Festival in China (2010), ANTI Contemporary Art Festival in Finland (2010), the Venice Biennale (2005) and the Liverpool Biennial (2004).
