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Night of Swords is an eight-hour long, one shot, single take durational performance for video. A jump-cut to an eternal combat between two lovers, a metre of the limits of ambition, a tribute to the absurdly liminal tenacity of competition. Across the 480 minutes of the video’s duration, the light shifts with the passing of time, from clear Autumn daylight to the fluorescent lights of a gymnasium once darkness falls. Dressed in medieval knight meets basketball kit, with athletic mesh replacing chain mail, the two opponents perform a cycling and endless loop of 3 simple stage combat choreographies. Across the 8 hours they never, ever leave the frame. Every 30 minutes a break is signalled by the first 10 seconds of 'I've Got The Power' by Snap playing out across the Turnhalle PA. At hour 5, burgers arrive to be devoured. As the light changes, so do their levels of fatigue, of combat proficiency, and determination. Dominance and submission switch back and forth.  This is a reinscription of what relationships between lovers can be. No winner, no loser, no fixed narrative, only love as a practice of endurance.

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