John COURT, UK/Finland

Born in 1969 in Bromley, Kent, lives and works in Lapland, Finland.

John Court has been living and working 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 and has been invited to perform at major events such as Das Dicke Ende in Bern Art Museum Switzerland (2018), MA, Art Museum in Rouyn-Noranda Canada (2018), UP-ON Live Art festival Chengdu China (2017), 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). 

John Court is participating for the fourth time in Live Action which shows his talent and potential to develop., He was previously showcased in 2006 and 2013 and 2015 when he was invited to take part in Live Action’s durational strand, Live Time, as well as in its online event Digital Action in 2020.

For more information please visit John Courts' website  

John Court. Beijing Live 2016. photo : Joakim Stampe.