Renaissance Rumours and Chinese Whispers

Take part in a mass game of Chinese Whispers in a contemporary and playful exploration of Renaissance rumour. Emily Butterworth (KCL) will talk about the French Renaissance court, libellous pamphlets, and attempts to understand a personal investment in the spread of rumour and gossip before a mass game of Chinese Whispers, inspired by Montaigne’s description of the spread of rumour, led by artist Clare Qualmann.

Emily Butterworth © King's College London
Emily Butterworth

Emily Butterworth is a Senior Lecturer in French at King’s College London. She is interested in gossip, rumour, and other forms of unofficial talk and news in the French Renaissance, and in their relevance to modern unease about privacy and secrecy. She is working with Clare Qualmann on an art project inspired by Renaissance discussions of the spread of rumour.

Clare Qualmann
Clare Qualmann
Clare Qualmann is a London based artist working across a wide range of media; from drawing and sculpture to text-works and live art events (often in the form of walks). Inspiration is drawn from everyday routine, the ordinary and unnoticed and the particularities and peculiarities of people and places. Clare is a part-time lecturer at University of East London, and at London Metropolitan University, where her teaching and research focus on live art, participatory and interdisciplinary practices.

Image: ‘Le Caquet des femmes’ © Bibliothèque nationale de France

     Fernandez & Wells