Interior Pull: Performance by Florence Peake
SPECIAL EPISODE – PRE-OPENING
On 5 October 2022, FOROF reopened its cultural space with Interior Pull, a Special Episode and pre-opening performance by British artist Florence Peake, anticipating the launch of the second artistic season inaugurated in November with Sortilegio by Alex Cecchetti.
Conceived specifically for FOROF, the performance activated the hypogeum spaces of the Basilica Ulpia, establishing a dialogue between body, matter and archaeology within the historic site.
Suggested photo: performer within the underground archaeological space during the action.
A ritual between body and matter
Interior Pull is a collaborative performance conceived by Florence Peake with performers Vanshika Agrawal, Flaminia Celata and Anica Huck. Drawing on the imagery of a burial ritual, the work unfolds through a process of encasement: a body is wrapped in clay and then extracted, leaving behind a sculptural shell as a trace of the action.
This “sculptural shell,” exhibited in the space alongside other works by the artist, becomes a material testimony of transformation, later taken to the Laboratorio Piramide to be kiln-fired.
The sensory experience of the process is translated into vocal scores, amplified within the space from inside the clay form, creating an immersive and layered environment.
Suggested photo: detail of the clay shell or the moment of extraction.
Archaeology, extraction, memory
The extractive nature of the performance recalls both archaeological practices—bringing hidden remains back to light—and contemporary mining industries, which exhaust the Earth’s resources through exploitation.
Within this parallel, the human body becomes a metaphor for extracted matter, linking past and present, preservation and consumption, visibility and loss.
FOROF thus becomes a space for reflection on the tensions between history and contemporaneity, between what is unearthed and what is depleted.
Suggested photo: wide view of the performance in the archaeological setting.
A practice between performance and visual art
Florence Peake’s artistic practice explores materiality and physicality, addressing themes such as queer strategies and climate change through a language that is both sensual and witty, expressive and rigorous.
Her performances, often radical and irreverent, incorporate drawing, painting and sculpture, generating dynamic interactions between performers, audiences and sites.
With this Special Episode, FOROF reaffirms its identity as a space for experimentation, where archaeology becomes an active matrix for contemporary artistic production.
Suggested photo: interaction between performers and audience or spatial engagement.
Towards a new season
Although independent from the official programme, Interior Pull marked a moment of reactivation and anticipation, opening the path toward FOROF’s second season.
An event that reaffirmed the space’s bold and free identity, rooted in the enhancement of archaeology as a living source for contemporary cultural production.
Suggested photo: final installation view or the space after the performance.