J Neve Harrington
J Neve Harrington based in London, is an artist whose work includes writing, dance & choreography, drawing, video, installation, costume and space design. She works mainly in gallery and non-stage spaces where her work prioritises explorations around access, play, agency, confrontation by times/scales beyond the human, neuroqueer experiences of information processing and attention.
During Middlesbrough Art Week J Neve Harrington will present The Human Clock.
The Human Clock is a durational performance installation modelled on the appearance of the digital clock (16:46:07). A performer animates this simple machine using only her own embodied sense of time passing. In a play between the digital (image) and analogue (manual) presentation of time, she labours to turn time manually, literally with her hands.
Paradoxically, in order to keep up with metered time, the performer must continually negotiate the difference between the sign of the numbers (the value it denotes in metered time) and the time taken by the action of turning the numbers. In particular time “lost” in the progressively more complicated manoeuvres of turning the double-figure minute (e.g. 12:09:59 to 12:10:00), the hour (12:59:59 to 13:00:00) and double-figure hour (19:59:59 to 20:00:00), must be anticipated by adjusting the rate of the seconds. In this sense the actions of anticipating time consumes attention; rather than enabling the projection of a future, we are constantly and perversely caught in the labour of time as a constantly looping experience of time disappearing.
Harrington’s recent works include Satelliser: a dance for the gallery (2016/21) developed at Copeland Gallery, London and Villa Empain, Brussels and presented at BALTIC CCA, Gateshead UK, Turner Contemporary, Margate UK in 202, NottDance, Nottingham UK in 2022 and at Arnolfini, Bristol in 2023. A digital publication and podcast series satellising.com, accompanies the live performances, offering insight into the processes and contexts surrounding the work.
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Screensaver Series (premiere 2018, Dance Umbrella London) is a kaleidoscopic dance and sound work which explores a neurodivergent attentional space and has been presented at Uferstudios/ PURPLE Berlin, InkonstMalmö, Wellcome Collection UK, Dance Umbrella UK, Dance North Scotland, Tanz in Winterthur Switzerland. Digital versions of the work including the video essay believe/been (2020) have been screened in various USA and UK contexts.
Harrington recently completed a commissioned work storage for future sunsets with Scottish Dance Theatre & V&A Dundee, which is a durational work for the company and their first work for gallery spaces. sffs also features set, film and costumes created by Harrington for Scottish Dance Theatre.
Other works include good luck dinosaur (2020, Fest en Fest, London), UNFRIENDING (2021, The Place), never closer to midnight (2019, Reading University), The Human Clock (big time) (2013, A Million Minutes), Roundhouse 2014, Dance Live Aberdeen 2016, Sånafest Norway 2017, Rise Findhorn 2019, STACK (2018, Horniman Museum), V&A Museum 2018, V&A Museum of Childhood 2018, Our City Dances 2019, and The Performing Book (2011, Camberwell College of Arts), Brighton Festival 2015, Sadler’s Wells Presents: Wilderness Festival 2018, Et20l’Été Paris 2019.
Harrington’s educational background is in visual arts, psychology and dance. As a performer she has worked within museum and gallery contexts across Europe including Palais de Tokyo, Fondation Beyeler, Venice Biennale, Het Stedelijk, Kiasma, Fondation Boghossian. She was a board member of Chisenhale Dance Space in London 2020-22 and was involved with Engagement Arts Belgium 2017/18. Teaching engagements include:Winchester University, London College of Fashion, London College of Communication, Loughborough University, The Place, Trinity Laban, Independent Dance, [openclass], PRAXIS Oslo, Danscentrumsyd Malmö, UferstudiosBerlin, Nottingham Centre for Advanced Training, The Place Centre for Advanced Training. She works to support other artists with access through grant-writing, and mentors around neurodiversity in dance.