Richard John Jones

National Idiom explores the impact of technology on the body, working through and against systems of constraint and control, drawing on the folk tradition of East-Lancashire clogging form the UK. Emerging from the cotton mills in the 19th century, where women would tap along to the relentless rhythms of the mechanised looms, clogging is a symbol of the deeply interwoven histories around textile production, local cultural idioms, and feelings of belonging. This work, which is in development, intends to contextualise the various historical ‘rediscoveries’ of folk traditions within the current context of a resurgence of nationalisms in post-industrial regions in Europe and elsewhere. Clogging and other folk expressions are both extremely specific whilst also being deeply interconnected and shared amongst many regions and cultures across the world. At the heart of this work is an understanding of the connection between the development of technology, particularly the mechanical loom and early computers, and the effect these developments have had upon bodies and subjectivities.

Richard John Jones is an artist based in Amsterdam. He is a graduate of Central Saint Martins, London and the Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam. Until 2012 he was a Co-Director of Auto Italia South East, London. His work has been shown at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin, Museum of Modern Art, Medellin (MAMM), and the Gwangju Biennial in collaboration with AA Bronson. He was a recipient of the IMMA Freud Project Residency, Dublin in 2017. His first monograph entitled "Paraperformance", was published in 2018 by Immixtion Press in collaboration with Kunsthal Aarhus.

National Idiom is by Richard John Jones
Performed by: Richard John Jones and Eva Susova
Scenography: Mikołaj Sobczak
Costumes: Max Allen
Supported by: Arts Council England
It was originally developed through collaboration with Eva Susova and Doortje Peters with the support of Forum for Live Art Amsterdam (FLAM), 2018 and AkzoNobel Art Foundation. 

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