Anthea Moys

Country

South Africa

External Links

http://www.antheamoys.co.za

Anthea Moys's Biography

Anthea Moys is an artist who uses performance and video to explore notions of play, the pathetic and the 'useless'.  Anthea’s happenings seem to challenge the conventional sturm und drang seriousness of much other performance art. She is interested in how ‘play’ more readily implicates and involves the audience; invoking a three-way dialogue between herself, her audience and the places in which her activities happen.

Anthea also asserts the importance of public space for her works: “Public space,” she says, “becomes a site, where I can test out numerous possibilities in order to find a means of expression through action. Sometimes I create all the instructions for my performances, but then invite others into my domain where I would like a collaborative act to take place.” Her involvement in projects/events like 'Have City will Play' and 'Armed Response II', reveals considerable interest in dismantling conventions of behaviour in public spaces, and also reveals an acute awareness of how humour and play can deflate the seriousness of politically-charged social space.