On the first floor of a disused department store in the middle of Nuremberg’s pedestrian zone, the four performers from Bastard Assignments create a living situation: a house. The house in question is inspired by the 20th century history of the Gravesend home of Bastard Assignments member Caitlin Rowley. There is a kitchen, a living room, a bathroom and a bedroom – here now equipped with furniture from the Nuremberg region, without walls, with potential for manoeuvring. In this visually and sonically open situation, Bastard Assignments will live an artificially staged ‘day’ under the observation of the audience. As the day progresses the years wind forward from 1950 to the present day. The audience can watch as people, places and time periods slowly develop. The ordinary domestic rituals of eating, cleaning, washing, cooking juxtaposed with absurd choreographies that tell stories of love and sex; relationships, families and death.
Bastard Assignments are Timothy Cape, Edward Henderson, Caitlin Rowley and Josh Spear, four performers who make experimental music. They work collaboratively and have developed a shared practice that includes concert music, movement work, online work, text, video and improvisation. The four members met in 2012 while studying composition at Trinity Laban and began organizing performances of their own. HOUSE is their first long duration work.