Portraying a series of characters who resist representation, Ruses and Refusals samples an array of images, language, and references from history, pop culture, mythology, cinema, and art history in an aesthetic of kaleidoscopic excess. The film gathers a motley crew of anti-heros: Buster Keaton, Julian of Norwich, the Greek figure of Thetis, the philosopher Diogenes, a blobfish, a fox and a beaver, a satyr, and a “very hungry lady”. Their techniques of resistance vary – some perform non-expression, while others withdraw, placing themselves in a future out of frame. Together they play with their own characterisation, loitering out of shot and refusing to stay still.

With the kind support of the Bureau des arts plastiques of the French Institute and the French Ministry of Culture.

Madison Bycroft - Working with video, sculpture, and performance, Bycroft’s current interests extend into forms of reading and writing, expression, and refusal. Exploring the politics of illegibility and anti-portraiture through the language of resistance and fugitivity, they question how ‘sense’ is framed by historical contexts, bias, and structures of power.