Hello. My name is Anthony Schrag and I was born in Zimbabwe and grew up in the Middle East, the UK, and Canada.
I am currently based somewhere in Scotland. I have worked across the UK as well as internationally, including residencies in Iceland, North Carolina, Vancouver, Finland, Holland and South Africa.
Central to my practice is a broader discussion about the place of art in a social context, and some of my mad projects that come out of this way of working include blowing things up, kidnapping people, climbing on buildings, attempting to break a world record for hand-holding, and, recently, walking 2500 km across Europe, all in the name of ‘art’.
I have – somehow! – been the recipient of numerous awards including from Creative Scotland, The Hope Scot Trust, The British Arts Council, the Dewar Arts Award, the 2011 Standpoint Futures: Public residency award, as well as a Henry Moore Artist Fellowship. They are all really nice people for supporting me: thank you!
https://www.anthonyschrag.com/
Making The World With Our Bodies – Ongoing Performance
Who is the better person? The work is a shared collaborative exploration occurring within structured performances that use the aesthetics and history of competitive sports – in this instance, wrestling – to examine the role and place of conflict in our daily lives. Can politics be transformed into action – and vice versa – through the enacted rituals of competitive, physical (yet controlled) fighting. It also aims to examine to what degree the notion of ‘catharsis’ is productive, and what this catharsis might engender: Are we fundamentally violent creatures, or can we enter an enlightened peace by ridding our body’s vile humours?
Inviting random and curated participants to engage a wrestling match with the artist, the work aims to live though – and beyond – the metaphor of physical violence and how such acts can become representational and/or active images to tell the stories of our lives.
