Storyville

Alister Lownie and Katherina Radeva in their Storyville installation

an inhabited installation

The artists transplant their living room to the performance site; all their possessions are priced according to the subjective value the artists have placed on them — and all are available for sale as the artists hold an ‘open house’ and invite visitors to share a cup of tea and a chat.

Visitors can browse, discuss the history of items, share stories of their own with the artists, and reflect on how value is created and in what ways it is shared. At the same time, they can choose to acquire objects, depriving the artists of personal possessions with meaningful histories. Our books, music collections, journals, clothes and childhood toys — the accumulated objects that make our pasts — create an installation that is both personal and universal, while the shape of each encounter is dictated by the audience.

the alchemy that occurs when value, whether it be cultural, personal or monetary, becomes attached to an object

review, Confused Guff

Katherina sorting through paintings
Clothes on hangars

their infectious chattiness and contemplative air soon have you sharing, and reflecting on, snapshots of your own life’s history

review, It Would Crumble

Audience laughter
Unpacking for the installation
Jewelry, an ironing board and artworks jostle for space
Katherina Radeva and Alister Lownie discuss an object

credits

created by Katherina Radeva and Alister Lownie

Commissioned for an empty shop in Chester  by Chester Performs, as part of Rogues Galleries