Claire Cunningham
Claire Cunningham is a performer and creator of multi-disciplinary performance based in Glasgow, Scotland and a current Factory Artist with Tanzhaus NRW Düsseldorf, Germany as well as a Work Place Artist with The Place, London. One of the UK’s most acclaimed and internationally renowned disabled artists, Cunningham’s work is initially rooted in the use/misuse, study and distortion of crutches. Through these objects she not only engages physically with the world, exploring the potentiality of her specific physicality as a disabled individual, crafting a unique vocabulary which aims to challenge conventions around virtuosity, classical aesthetic and dance, but are also her means to relate and connect to the world as an artist. She is interested in non-normative bodies and keen to highlight the enrichment to be gained in contemporary performance, especially dance, by embracing this. By extension she is also driven to make work that will attract those often disenfranchised from watching contemporary dance due to the conventional body aesthetics or because of the seeming abstractness of dance. Her interest in combining artforms stems from this intention.
Ulrike Steffel editor
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