‘Factual Actual,’ 2021
A new performance commissioned for Dance to the Music of Our Time
10th December 2021, The National Gallery, London

In December 2021 Florence Peake presented ‘Factual Actual,’ a series of commissioned performances as part of 'Dance to the Music of Our Time,' a live exhibition at The National Gallery.

In ‘Factual Actual,’ figurative painting and performance is combined as large, exuberantly painted canvasses are folded, dragged, and suspended by five dancers, moving between flat and sculptural forms and theatrical elements of concealment and revelation. 

This performance extends what painting can do and its relationship to movement, up-ending the static representation often found in Western museum collections through chaotic shifts and ever-changing compositions. 

This project launched as part of The National Gallery’s season for 'Poussin and the Dance’ and explores the differences in how the body in motion has been represented throughout history, and how dance, performance and choreography can be used to narrate stories and myth. In 2022 the exhibition will tour, dates and locations to be confirmed.

The performers are Temitope Ajose-Cutting, Iris Chan, Katye Coe, Rosalie Wahlfrid and Natifah White, and the producer is Nikki Tomlinson. Supported by Richard Saltoun Gallery, London, Wainsgate Dances, La Becque Résidence d’artistes and Sigrid and Stephen Kirk