Entirely Valid Action is a new body of collaborative work from artists Chloe Nolan and Jaxon Waterhouse exploring the judicial ‘trial by combat’ between man and woman, as depicted in the 14th century manuscript Fechtbuch penned by German fencing master Hans Talhoffer. Recreating episodes from Ingmar Bergman’s 1974 teleseries, Scenes from a Marriage, this exhibition traces the breakdown of a marriage within a medieval context, culminating in the ‘trial by combat’; a medieval means of separation/divorce.
Entirely Valid Action derives its title from a commonly used phrase in Dungeons and Dragons, which relates to the player’s choice to utilise a ‘free action’ despite its potential consequences as a game strategy. Drawing on this notion; alongside aesthetic motifs found across medieval tradition, vaudevill and LARPing, Entirely Valid Action is an exercise in canvassing the relationship between representation, re-enactment and the real.
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Exhibition text available here.