If anyone was telling me a month ago that our collaborative group would create a performance with a group in New York via the online social networks I wouldn't believe him. It was really interesting how this collaboration have been scheduled and organized three weeks ago. 

An online international collaborative project was being organized a month ago with the department of performing arts and digital technology of New York University in charge. One of Youngshin's friends, Yanghee that is living in New York and is an alumni of the NYU contacted Youngshin for her help on what to present and if she would be interested in participating in this online project. After the collaboration and connection with Korea Youngshin was interested in participating with an idea of having all of us collaborating within a performance placed in London city centre that would be projected within the theatre of the NY University where another performance by Yanghee would take place. All of the work would be happening in real time and each of the cities would communicate via the internet in order to create a collective performance that would embrace both of the cities. 

We had to make a proposal and send it to New York University in order to accept our performance and to select us one of the cities that would participate within the project of digital technology and online communication in relation to performing arts.

Fortunately, our proposal was accepted and NYU agreed to collaborate with us and to include our work within their project's show. Following two weeks of constant communication with New York via facebook we managed to agree to create a performance that would be based on action and improvisation within London's cityscape with our image being projected via Skype connection within the NYU theatre while at the same time Yanghee would be dancing live in response to our improvisational walking within NYU's theatre and her image would be projected with us via the use of the Pico Projector while we would be performing at the streets of London.

(The schedule of the collaborative performance)

The performance's intention: experimentation with the idea of communication and new technologies that connect people internationally in real time within the process of performance. Interaction will occur within physical and virtual space between the participants. Experimentation of the use of collaborative performance in response to city's inhabitants and areas for the completion of an exploration within the city's cultural and socio-political context. 

The plan: The performance will take the form of the telematic performance that connects two separate locations in real time. 

Telematic performance through improvisational movement: Our collaborative group will be walking on the streets of London's city centre in response to directions given by New York's collaborative group. Maps of New York will help us navigate within the city centre of London in order to re-explore our own city and its habits. Simultaneously, the group of performers will be performing within the theatre of NYU in response to our walking. Movement of our walking will be projected within the NYU theatre space where live audience will be placed for the execution of the live dancing by the group of performers from New York. Everything will be happening simultaneously in both cities and will be connected online via the use of Skype software.

What we had to consider for the execution of the performance:

• The difference between the two time zones 
• Outdoor projection through the use of Pico Projector
• Outdoor use of the Internet either via 3G or Wifi Free Hotspots
• The weather in London
• The use of the map of New York for navigating within London 
• Improvisation
• The sound that will be projected from the group of New York via the Skype connection and ways of incorporating the sound within our outdoor performance
• The use of ipad or iphone for telematic communication with New York

The problems that we faced before the start of the performance:

• During the technical test of the performance: The cable that we used to connect the Pico Projector to the iphone was composite only for video formats and not for live projection, so we weren't able to project the image from New York via Skype onto the streets of London while we would be walking. The only solution was to create a video of the dance that would performed for the night at New York and to send us the file so we would be able to project the video format during our out-door performance. However, the problem with that idea was that the dance won't be based on improvisation and the image that we would project would be pre-documented and that would change the meaning and the intention of the performance. 
• During the technical test of the skype connection we realized that the best solution for connecting online during our outdoor performance was the use of 3G and not the Wifi BT hotspots, in order to have the best results for the use of the internet connection. 
• Maps of New York for navigation around the city centre of London were essential for our journey of re-discovering the city that we live in. However, we forgot to take them with us prior to the performance so we decided to improvise as much as possible for choosing where to navigate to within the city. 
• The Pico projector wasn't useful in the end as I already mentioned we couldn't project live image and due to the fact that I forgot to pick it up on Friday from the studios prior to the weekend of the performance when the school would be closed.
• The weather in London during the weekend made our work more difficult as it was really bad with rain and wind all the time. 
• An important factor that changed the day of our performance from Sunday to Monday morning was the difference of time between the two cities. Mis-communication in the time zone for the placement of our performance and the rehearsal made our experience a bit more complicated. However, the schedule was set on Saturday and we knew exactly what times to be in the city centre for the execution of the performance and the technical rehearsal in New York as well as the starting point of our walk. 

The Performance: Sunday 29th April 10pm - Monday 30th April, 2am, London city centre starting from the area of Westminster and Waterloo towards the Trafalgar Square. 

Sunday, 29th April at 8.30-9pm: Meeting at Waterloo with Youngshin and Katheryn in order to test the connection with New York. It was the first time that we would see the stage ready for our collaborative performance and we were really excited that the connection went well. The technical test was helding on that moment in New York and we were able to show them via the iphone what was happening in London. The weather was really good and the images that we sent online were amazing. The use of small speakers connected to the iphone made the transferring of the sound from the theatre in NYU possible and we were able to hear what was being said in the theatre on that moment and to hear our own voices as well due to the skype connection's sound feedback. The first connection and technical test was succesful. 

Sunday 29th, at 11pm: We started walking from 10:30 when we met Chris from Waterloo Southbank centre towards the Westminster bridge for the first rehearsal of the collaborative performance. Some technical difficulties during the midtime were fixed and we connected with NYU at 11pm for the final rehearsal. We would be walking and improvising directions within the city while Yanghee in New York would be dancing in response to our walk. Improvisational sound and talking between us was essential for creating an atmosphere casual and intimate with the audience that would be placed within the theatre in New York. The connection lasted only 10 minutes as well as the performance in New York and I believe was really succesful on that time. Beautiful images were projected from us within their theatre and they were able to communicate with us visually, orally and aurally. 

(Un-edited video documentation of the performance and the rehearsal)

Monday 30th April at 2am: We continued walking towards Westminster along the Thames River, Covent Gardens and we managed to get to the Trafalgar Square by 1am where the connection with New York for the final performance would start. We were walking for 4 hours with having in mind improvisation in our choices of direction in order for us to be an adventure and a spiritual journey of re-discovery both the city and ourselves with emphasis in bonding and learning more things about each other's lives and dreams. Technical difficulties on the connection via Skype caused delay and our performance during the whole show was skipped, until the minute that we managed to connect again. I must say that a bit of panic was caused on that moment while we were waiting to start our walk again from the Trafalgar Square. Tiredness and exhaustion due to the late start of the performance made our walking difficult and I don't think that we executed as good as we could. I believe that the actual performane wasn't as good as the rehearsal due to the group's tiredness and coldness. However, I believe the dancing of Yanghee in NYU's theatre with us in the backdrop walking in response to her performance and her exchange of energy towards us seemed a really nice experience and a well-executed performative experience for the audience that was watching in New York and the people at the streets of London that were watching us filming, walking and speaking to the iphone that was connected to the small portable speakers. I certainly believe that if we manage to do the performance again will be much better because we've learnt from our mistakes and lack of experience in relation to outdoor performances. 

The walk was a beautiful experience and a memory that will definitely not be forgotten by anyone of us, as we promised to do it again as a project of experimentation with other cities or with New York again in order the performance to be more consistent and better planned. 

Saturday, 21 April 2012, Elthorne Studios

http://betweentheworld.tumblr.com/

Two weeks ago, while I was studying at the CSM library of the King's Cross Campus I noticed an advertisement about an exhibition named 'Between the World and Nothing'. I was immediately driven by the title and as I was already very interested in the notion of liminality and its relation to space within art I wanted to further investigate what was the idea behind the exhibition and especially to learn more about other artists' approaches towards the liminal space and its relation to the cosmos in general. Therefore, I decided to visit the exhibition and have a closer look of the work that was exhibited and curated in relation to the theme of in-betweeness towards the approach of cosmology from a philosophical and psycho-analytical perspective.  

The show was divided into two days with a lecture on the day of the opening that would analyse the idea of “The Nothing Noths (and the World Worlds)”  by Dr Simon Glendinning of L.S.E. However, I wasn't able to attend the lecture so I decided to visit the exhibition in order to understand more about this philosophical idea of the world that we are living in, in relation to its present and absent elements. The exhibition was based on the artists' response to the idea of cosmos, the nothingness, the absence and the presence of spaces;what is considered a space and its relation to time -the past,the present and the future. It is considered an invitation to the artists to re-discover what is a space, the duality of the space splitted in between the outer surrounding space and the inner space of their mentality, where the imagination lies and evokes creativity, and most importantly how the liminality of the two spaces can create a third place - a place of communication and understanding for the audience that will experience the work. 

The artists that showed work within the exhibition are students of the courses of MA Fine Art and MA Photography of the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. The artists: Eliza Swann, Ines Bento Coelho, Martin Cordiano, Martin Guinard-Terrin, Shirin Fathi. The exhibition was curated by the CSM student of the course MRes Art Theory and Philosophy Alexandros Alexandropoulos. 

http://birdsarenotforsale.tumblr.com/ http://www.shirinfathi.com/

http://www.elizaswann.com/

I certainly think that the architectural space of the exhibition was well-chosen and well-considered in terms of curation and organization. The underground industrialized mood of the old workshop that was used as the exhibition's space was embracing the artists to create work that will enact and interact with its architectural elements and dark atmosphere. Video installation and photography with emphasis on the performative element, sculpture, site-specific installations and creative writing were the artists' creative responses to the space and the theme of investigation. The work was made in relation to the exhibited space and the inhabited within the artists' practices. Ideas based on marking and signifying the architectural elements of the space in relation to the art practice; decomposition and dislocation in relation to the difference of the creating process of the work and its exhibited state; spaces that become places of memory, childhood and repression in response to the practice of photography and performance; as well as interactive installation work that aims to create a dislocating experience of the space for the audience; the creation of a narrative inspired by the space's atmosphere and an audio-visual performative installation that was identifying the artist's response to the notion of individuality in relation to the universal cosmology were the elements that I signified within this exhibition.

It was fascinating how the exhibited works seemed to be placed in between the two states of space. They seemed to be laying between the mental state of the artists inner vision of what is considered the topos and cosmos and the emptiness and hard, industrial materiality of the architectural surrounding space. I believe the art pieces were the links of bonding the physical space and the mental space of the artists, but at the same the projecting elements of the concepts of investigation for communication with the viewers that were also another space of ideas. The works were the bonds between the ideas of the artists and the ideas of the audience that was visually and mentally responding to them so as to leave with more ideas and concepts of investigation in mind. 

(Photo credits: Alexandros Alexandropoulos)

 

 

 

Playground presents:

Berlin Love Tour, 8 April 2012

Fierce Festival Birmingham in association with Birmingham Repertory Theatre

Director:Tom Creed/ Written by Lynda Radley/ Cast: Hilary O'Shaughnessy, Greg Milner

'Berlin Love tour is a guided tour of the city, with Birmingham standing-in for Berlin.' Playgound, Fierce Festival programme, 29 March-8 April 2012

This is the description that was written on the Fierce festival's programme for this site-specific performance and definitely it gave a signifier what would follow during the show but nothing could describe the experience of being physically part of the performance. The performance was dealing with the audience's physical presence, its relation to the physical surrounding site and the imaginary place where the narrative was situated.  

The reason of choosing to visit this performance was simply the idea that was being held behind the performance: that you can be placed physically within a space but to imagine of other spaces. Through the use of the transformative power of performance the roles of the audience and the perfomers to change in relation to the site and the physical space to be transcended through one's imagination where another space lies which is absent but it still makes an impact to the reality. Through the process of the performance roles can be changed, spaces can be transcended and other spaces to be revealed. 

The performance starts with the line: 'Welcome to Berlin!' and immediately in a way you are asked to envision Birmingham's city centre as a representation of Berlin. The form of the narrative was a combination of a tourist-guided tour and an autobiographical love story.

The main character was a woman who moved to Berlin and was working as a tourist guide of the city centre. Her name was Hillary and was from Dublin. She confessed that she came to Berlin only for holiday and ended up living there because she was impressed by the city and its lifestyle. However, even though narratively we were situated in Berlin's city centre, physically we were placed in Birmingham. We were part of the performance and we became transformed from being an audience to a group of tourists that were re-exploring Birmingham's city centre in relation to the monuments, the places, the areas of Berlin. 

The cast of the performance was consisted of only two actors: the tour-guide and the spirit of the dead lover who belonged to her memory and was revealed via her story-telling. The tour was spread only in the city centre of Birmingham and especially the area of Brindleyplace. The day of the performance was the Easter Sunday. The city centre was empty and only a few people that were walking on the Broad street were seen to be celebrating by drinking in big groups of people maybe between family and friends. I was living in Birmingham for three years during my BA degree and I knew the city centre very well. I've seen the area in different occasions and especially how Easter Sunday is being spend there. The identifying elements of the being in Birmingham's city centre daily are: huge crowds, people walking on the streets, shops open until late hours, restaurants open until 10-11pm, cafes open until 7pm and traffic on the streets with buses packed with people especially from 5pm-7pm. 

However, on the Easter Sunday, the shops are closed, a few people are walking on the streets, usually is cold and windy, most of the restaurants and cafes are closed and no traffic at all on the roads. The city feels like an empty place. That was also the backdrop of the performance on that day; the city centre was seen on its quiet time. It was quite extraordinary seeing the city on this condition.It felt that many things have changed since June that I left from there. The performance helped me in a way to re-examine and re-explore the city that I've already knew and at the same time to imagine Berlin, a city that I also knew and visited before one year within the city that I left behind, only to revisit again.

The performance was site-specific in relation both to the audience and its imagination for which is the site's identity. Objectively, the performance was a guided tour of the audience within the city centre of Birmingham. Within the performance the spectators took the role of the participants and were guided within the city in order to expole the imaginary city's cultural and socio-political identity. 

Each of the areas that were being explored within the narrative were being staged according to various sites of the Birmingham city centre. The Berlin Wall, the Jewish memorial, the Alexanderplatz, the area of Mitte and so on were being revealed and imaginarily staged within the city centre of Bimingham. Re-imagining Berlin was one of the outcomes that I've noticed evoking from this perfomance. I specifically managed to re-imagine Berlin and envision its monuments and places that I've been to when we were standing in front of a site at Brindleyplace that resembled to the Jewish memorial of Berlin. It was the only moment that I became really engaged with the narrative that was been revealed through the monologue of the tour guide as it was the only place that I felt really strange when I went there. 

The performance lasted for approximately two hours. The wind and the cold triggered the senses and you become vulnerable towards the story that is being said in front of you. You become vulnerable and involved with the love story that is associated with the city of Berlin and then you find yourself being emotionally involved and engaged that seems almost as identification with the character's story leading back to your life and its stories that are associated with cities, especially if you are living in a foreign country and you deal with all the issues of isolation and endless tries to make friends and get to know people that will help you not to feel lonely on most of the times. 

You start to see the city from a different perspective and you become to doubt that what you are living is true or inauthentic. You observe people in the streets walking, drinking, singing and then you think if they are actually part of the performance or just everyday people that were accidentaly seen there. I was even thinking if they were performers that were staging the life in Berlin or Brums that due to your involvement to the performance seemed almost Germans. However, it is still a play with the two characters being played by actors and the story that were telling was just a fable. And that is where the beauty of performance lies. It manages to recreate a site that is real in time and in space into the backdrop for a story that is only a fable and exists only in the each of the participants minds and it's really individualistic as each one of us would imagine the space and the action of the story differently. Performance is based on perception and it always aims for transformation both for the audience and the performers. 

You realize that the story is based on a romantic relationship that ended up painfully. Death separated the couple and the character that was seen once every while was the spirit or the memory of her boyfriend. The times that he was seen singing was in response to her storytelling, the memory that was associated with him and the site that we were 'visiting' on that moment. I enjoyed the interactive element of the performance through the use of live guitar playing and singing but after a while it seemed dull because the tone of the songs was the similar every time. Another interactive element that I noticed in relation to the audience was the offering of sweets by the actress. That action helped to become a moment of relief from all the romantic drama that the story was based on. However, it was the only one interactive element within the whole performance. All the rest performance was based on storytelling in relation to the sites that the tourist guide was leading us and I felt a bit distracted during some moments because I was tired of following the story, as the monologue of the actress was monotone. 

Regarding the end of the show, it was really interesting the site that we were taken to watch the end of the story. The roof of the Brindleyplace was extraordinary and the view from there even more. It felt as being isolated from the rest of the world just so as to seem that we were placed in another place in an other time that didn't have anything to do with the city centre but still you were able to see it from above. The reason of choosing that location I believe it was because we were entering a world that wasn't of the living but rather of the dead, the spirits that died in Berlin during the war, where also the spirit of the main character's boyfriend was placed. I really enjoyed the atmosphere that the space was evoking but I found the last part of the performance not much engaging as the other sections as I think it was a bit over-dramatic, usual and not original at all, I would definitely comment that it was mainstream. The song was on the same tone as the other ones with the only difference that they were more participants which I believe enhanced the dramatic mood of the performance. I really like the participation of people that were living in Berlin during the period of time that the story was being placed and are still associated with Birmingham. An idea that still shows the emphasis of the company towards site-specificity. They weren't performers but everyday people that came to participate within the performance as us, with the only difference that they were wearing costumes and were being active entities with their singing and movement in front of us that we were passive recipients on that time. I certainly think that even though the ending was interesting and simple it could be developed a bit more in order not to make the audience think of something similar to the performance and to keep it more engaged than it was before.  

 

FLAMIN productions Screening of 'Gonda'

Director: Ursula Mayer

Screenplay: Maria Fusco based on Ayn Rand's play Ideal

Featuring transgender model Valentijn de Hingh

http://www.ursulamayer.com/

Screening: April 12, 2012 Whitechapel Gallery

Who is 'Gonda' and for what does she stand for? Those are the questions raised to the viewer as soon as he comes up with the title of the new 30-minute film of the director Ursula Mayer.

Going to watch the screening of Gonda at the Whitechapel Art Gallery on the 12th of April, I thought that the questions raised by the title and the relationship between the film and the play Ideal by Ayn Rand that was the main influence for the screenplay of the film, would be answered and explained. However, the film's abstraction raised more questions around the concept of the work, without even justifying the main ideas of who is Gonda and what does it represent. By the non-narrative screenplay of the film I could understand a few elements that the work was based on as it was full of signifiers and ideas around a variety of issues found within contemporary post-modern societies, but still I wasn't fully sure about the intention and concept of the work.

Visual perception, non-narrative text, extravagant imagery and sound as language for communication are the main elements that this film encompasses. The film starts with images of everyday objects shown cut in half with grids of solid fluorescent colors. Transitions are made through fast cuts in relation to the sound. It is emphasized from the very start that Gonda is a film of voices in relation to cinematic imagery highly influenced by digitally and physically-made visual effects. While I was watching the imagery of the first scenes changing once and a while it made me think of the impact of fetishization towards object and especially seen through the camera lens. Was that the intention of the relationship between sound and imagery of everyday objects cut as being displayed in galleries, to make the imagery the fetish and the viewer the distant voyeur? 

http://randomacts.channel4.com/#view/125 

As soon as I was watching the rest of the film I could realize that probably fetishization of the object and especially the transgender actress' body was an element that was being developed in front of the audience; the voyeurs. Issues of identity in relation to sexuality, the contradiction between the inner and outer self, the relationship between bodies and fashion photo shoots and trends were being identified within the film. But still ambiguity and ambivalence in relation to the main concept of the work was lying within the work. 

Only when I did some research upon the thematic of the Ayn Rand's Ideal ,1937 I could start reassuring my initial ideas on hybrid and extravagant identities in contradiction to their role in society. Known as a controversial Russian/American novelist, screenwriter and philosopher Rand in her writing focused on unpacking her philosophical system ‘Objectivism’, a substantially anti- altruistic and individualistic position. 

Objectivism's central principles are:

• that reality exists independent of consciousness, that human beings have direct contact with reality through sense perception
• one can attain objective knowledge from perception through the process of concept formation and inductive logic
• that the proper moral purpose of one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness (or rational self-interest)
• that the only social system consistent with this morality is full respect for individual rights embodied inlaissez faire capitalism
• the role of art in human life is to transform humans' metaphysical ideas by selective reproduction of reality into a physical form—a work of art—that one can comprehend and to which one can respond emotionally

From the Objectivism's philosophical theoretical background I can realize how the film fits within the concept of idealism in relation to the contemporary societies. The film was introducing the idea that reality exists within the individual's sense perception and that the world is centered on the individual who was a transgender identity. The narration of the film was centered on the individual's inner thoughts in relation to her identity and her role within society and fashion industry as well as her relationships to other extravagant identities. The idealism is found within the individual and his freedom will come from his/her inner will to be accepted. It was really interesting how the film was based on a non-narrative perception of the film industry but at the same time was introducing an abstraction of language through the use of extraordinary body close-ups, visual effects and sounds of voice recordings. 

Nevertheless, as a counter position to this altruistic position of Rand, the film Gonda aims to takes cinematic and linguistic space to their limits by creating 'kaleidoscope spaces' in which images, texts and sounds are constantly changing position to affect pre-supposed ideals of identity and existence. The point of access in the film experiments with the form of a polyphonic monologue; this method is chosen consciously to be the opposite pole to the individualistic and non-altruistic position of Rand.

Many people did not get the main theme of the film but they were fascinated by its extraordinary cinematic and sonic quality. Similarly this happened to me too, even though i identified the signifiers of the film that were linked to various ideas and I believe that's where the magic of this film lies. It is based on the non-linguistic text-driven narrative that aims to the misunderstanding by the audience, in order to open up the dimensions of the film industry towards a sensory perception and visual/sonic engagement. The conversation with the artist that followed the screening explained this idea. She particularly stated that the work may be read as a love poem to cinema, also addressing key philosophical issues of gender and ethics, emphasizing why spectatorship is still the point of friction in cinema and an important act in activism and desire.

Taking into consideration the artist to open up the limits of the cinematic imagery and the relationship between live and filmed performance she stated that she is planning to create a live art installation with her film projected on the background and props that were used during the filming for a live performance in which the actress Valentijn de Hingh will be performing the role of Gonda. This idea is really interesting in terms of expanding the limits of the filmed imagery within the physical space and creating a relationship between live performance and film. Additionally, it was really interesting within the film the relationship between live and pre-recorded voice. Most of the film was made with pre-recorded audio and then merged with the imagery. Only in a few scenes you would see the actress speaking within the film. I believe that idea was based on challenging the limits of sound within the films and a way to emphasize that the whole narrative was happening within the mind of the actress; that the film was the actress' perception of reality, an idea that I similarly embrace within my work. 

During the artist's talk, I came up with the result that Gonda is seen as an ideal, an idol of what is considered an identity within our society which is not fixed but hybrid and at the same time the individualistic perception of what is considered reality. The presentation of liminal extravagant bodies within the film aimed to the re-consideration of what is normal and abnormal within a community, a world, reality. The relationship of the extraordinary transgender bodies with fashion photoshoots that was seen within the film as Mayer stated aims to the emphasis of the contemporary fashion industry's turn towards the notion of the androgynous and hybridization. 

 

 

 

 

Performances: March 29- April 8, 2012

8th April 2012, Birmingham, U.K.:

Group Walk with Hamish Fulton, 2.30-4.00pm 

Venue: City-centre

Supported by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation, as part of 'Re-tracing the city' a programme of walking-based public artwork within Fierce Festival 2012. Presented in association with Ikon Gallery.

Walking as a way of liberation; walking as public art; walking as an experience; walking towards freedom; walking towards Utopia. Those are the key elements of the practice of the artist Hamish Fulton who was the leader of a group of people walking at the city centre of Birmingham at the last day of the Fierce Festival, as part of the festival's series of performances and in association with the artist's exhibition that is currently on at the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham. 

Fulton has said ‘If I do not walk, I cannot make a work of art’. Calls for political justice, for Tibet and previously on behalf of Australian Aborigines and North American Indians, also recur in Fulton’s work, corresponding to the individual and artistic freedom embodied within it.

The walk/performance around Curzon park, behind the Curzon street station based on the idea of re-discovering an urban environment and for exploring walking as a therapeutic performance. The participants were individuals from a variety of backgrounds that didn't know each other and were asked to be within a collective for a couple of hours to accomplish this mission. Being both within a collective and apart as an individual, the participants were asked to walk from the Ikon Gallery until the Curzon park where they were asked to stay still for one hour in rows and filling the empty industrial space with their presence. 

Bad weather affected their journey. Rain and cold made their performance more difficult and they were asked to stay still in silence as statues in public spaces. I wasn't a participant. I came late and I took the role of the voyeur that was closely observing the bodies in the urban environment as beautiful sculptures of public art that were interacting with the whole atmosphere of the space. They resembled to public sculptures made by the artist Antony Gormley, the lonely metal figures placed in vast natural and urban environments. However, they weren't alone. By side them were other participants. They were a collective and at the same individuals that were asked to be private and silent. Private and public spaces were merged together during this performance. Private space: the mind of the individual/Public space: the city-scape.  

The imagery produced by the performance was magnificent. Movement was changing into stilness and the bodies were being transformed from moving entities to still, as snapshots of a photographic camera. Simultaneously, everything was happening live. The bodies were interacting and reacting to the environment and its changes. But stillness and silence had to be sustained within the process of the performance. The only sound that you could hear was the sound of the trains passing every once and a while, and the wind. The bodies were becoming submerged with the surrounding environment and they were adjusting to weather changes. They were becoming part of the landscape and the architecture of the space and you couldn't figure out their identities; they were objects within the public sphere. 

This site-specific performance can once again described as extraordinary. The images cannot capture the pure essence that the live performance had, but maybe that is part of the nature of this art; the untouchable and the uncertain. 

Reynir Hutber, Stay Behind the Line, 17 March -22 April 2012

Venue: Grand Union, Digbeth, Birmingham

Entering a space where live and pre-recorded media are depicting the idea of what is present and what is absent is the basis of this exhibition by the emerging London-based artist Reynir Hutber at the artist-led gallery Grand Union, in Birmingham.

The exhibition Stay Behind the Line is part of the live art Fierce Festival 2012 placed in Birmingham. It presupposes what is considered the notion of boundary within the art scene, the boundaries of the art galleries and the boundaries that are sustained within the cultural and political context of a society. What does it mean to cross the boundary; to not to obey the rules and go with the flow are the ideas that are investigated and challenged within this exhibition that has its basis on the live and video element. 

Having references in performance art and its documentation in relation to the live happening, the artist is stating the boundaries between the viewer and the work of art which is mainly mediated such as visual projection and sound. The viewer is the live element of the work. He is becoming both the voyeur and the participant to the installations. He sees himself crossing the boundaries that are either physical or imaginary and to break the rules by approaching what is not approachable. 

My favourite piece was the installation that was challenging the physical and visual presence. Inside a built structure you would see a tv monitor and a video camera. A string was diving the space into two, like something was there and shouldn't be approached by the viewer. On the TV screen you could see a nude placed on the floor. Immediately, your perception about the space was changing into care. She is the unapproachable element, the absence of its presence. She is placed there as a victim of violence and exhibitionism. The viewer is not allowed to touch her or even to approach her. The string sets his boundaries. However, on the screen he is seen to go closer to her, touch her and even step on her. The live with the mediated element change our perception about what is there and what is not; what it's seen on the television, what is real and what is not. We are becoming the voyeurs, the dominant bodies and the participants to this other reality that is fed to us via the media, and we are not able to change it. It changes us.

National theatre, London: 9-28 March 2012

Dialogue and movement, gesture, expression, freedom of speech, cencorship and Islamic beliefs are the elements that I noted about the performance Can we talked about this? by the physical theatre company DV8 that I watched on the 24th March, 2012.

The performance Can we talk about this? was based on the sense of cencorship and freedom of expression within the Islamic religious and cultural context. The company was conducting several interviews with individuals and organizations that are following the Islamic religion and lifestyle in order to fully realize their experiences and to adjust the stories within the performance's narrative and theatrical context. The narrative that was revealed during the performance was suggesting a series of stories that each one of them had its own drama. Some of them were stories of escape and freedom from the standards of the Islamic community, stories of violence and discrimination, racism and tragic stories that were seen within a parodical and satirical context.

The performance was focusing on demonstrating the notion of multi-culturalism in Britain through the stories and experiences of Islamic immigrants from the 1980s until 2012. Using the visual and literal language of text and dialogue in relation to expressive motion and movement -signifiers of language- the performance's plot was evolving chronologically with moments of intense emotion and humorous relief. The dancers were the embodiments of the text and the dialogue that was conducted throughout the whole plot. The cast of the performance was consisted of dancers from multiple ethnographic and cultural backgrounds, which was justifying the work under the scheme of multiculturalism that is describing Britain since the 1980s. 

The title of the show was a proposition of what would be included during the performance. The responses from the audience on the issue of islamism, lack of expression, immigrants' sense of (un)belonging, multiculturalism and racism between the communities were several. Some people seemed interested on the concept of cencorship and lack of expression, others seemed to be tired by the constant use of monologue and narrated dialogue that was based on historical facts and personal experiences. I believe that the tone of the dialogue seemed a bit repetitive and maybe that was actually causing tiredness to the audience. In some sections of the show the choreographic movements were repetitive as well, but I really think that the combination of repetitive movement and dialogue was the tiring element of the show.  

“Do you feel morally superior to the Taliban? Well, do you?”, the starting line of the show was demonstrating a cultural and socio-political taboo comment based on islamophobia and cultural beliefs of superiority either by western or eastern cultures. However, I believe that this idea is not solid anymore, is flexible and out-dated within western societies in which multicultularism is accepted and on the lead. I am not bidding against its existence, but only suggesting that facts on multiculturalistic phobia are limited nowadays. 

The choreography however, was a marvellous piece of live art and the performers executed their best performance moves and gestures. It was a performance of inner and outer sensibility in relation to serious issues of investigation. Where does dance come into all this: 'As a playful counterbalance and provocative running-commentary – at times working quirkily against the serious grain, at others underlining what’s being said. The performers, mainly wearing ordinary casual clothes and working barefoot, have the air of mechanical dolls operated by unpredictable forces – they bob in ludicrous synchronicity, switch between micro-movements and broad skittish displays, contort at impossible angles.' Can We Talk About This?, Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, review, by Dominic Cavendish for The Telegraph, 10/11/2011

In terms of plot and scenographic effects: The collage effect of dialoge and text has power, until suddenly it doesn’t. Because there is no narrative arc, just a series of scenes, the evening, only 80 minutes long, feels longer. The simple sets made out of wooden tablets in which texts were emphasizing the narrative of the scenes in relation to mirrors and projections in some parts of the performance were creating a magnificent atmosphere that was both serious and visually engaging to the audience at the same time. It was simple, not very original but still engaging with the audience within the serious socio-political and cultural context of the performance.

 

Solo Exhibition at Stuart Shave / Modern Art, London. February 22, 2012 - March 24, 2012

http://vernissage.tv/blog/?s=karla+black

The last few years have been incredibly productive for the Scottish installation artist and sculptor Karla Black. She managed to be representing Scotland at the Venice Bennale of 2011 and to be nominated for the Turner prize of 2011. Her work has been recognized and developed rapidly during these years, which led her carrier towards having her first solo exhibition in London at the Stuart Shave Modern Art gallery.

Being fascinated by Black's practice and particularly her methods of manipulating DIY materials with paint and powdered colour pigments so as to create magnificent works of art that when are seen installed into gallery spaces are giving connotations of other contexts except from only those that she investigates, I decided to visit the gallery Modern Art on the Saturday 24th March, the last day of her exhibition in order to see from a close distance the magnificence of this contemporary artist's oeuvre. 

Karla Black, For Instruction, Pick Apart, 2012, cellophane, sellotape, paint, plaster powder, powder paint, 214 x 416 x 620 cm 

The exhibition at Modern Art comprises a series of Black's sculptures predominantly made by loosely painted cellophane and dusted polythene occupy the gallery's three exhibition spaces. Her sculptures are formed from materials that are loose, impermanent and fragile which can represent ephemerality and ethereality-qualities that are often seen in work that underpins the notion of the feminine and feminism- mixed with ordinary art materials such as paper, plaster, powder paint and paint. 

Within this exhibition it is evident the concept of investigation of mapping the space with works of art that are based on formlessness, feminism, the feminine element, psychoanalysis and the improvisation of the performative gesture for the making of the work. Black has described her practice as a continual exploration of thinking, feeling and relating. 

Karla Black, Is Expected to Happen, (exhibition view), 2012, polythene, plaster powder, powder paint, chalk dust, thread, installed dimensions variable, approx 680 x 30 x 1cm

Similarly what I identify in her work was the need to relate to the sculptures. My immediate response towards the work was interaction and the feeling of the need to touch; to touch what I wasn't allowed to. A kind of phenomenological response was driving my need to go closer to the work. This might be what the philosopher Walter Benjamin was identifying as the aura of the object or work of art; the energy that the physicality and materiality of the work is evoking to the viewer for engagement and interaction either physical via the touch or imaginary. 

Karla Black, Portray, 2012, polythene, plaster powder, powder paint, thread, 161 x 579 x 12 cm 

What is incredibly interesting in Black's work is the manipulation of the materials. The transformation of the state of the materials from everyday materials that are thin and translucent, fragile and impermanent into large-scale sculptures that are suspended from the ceiling or the corners of the space and seem visually heavy are mapping the space and dominate the gallery space that is shared with the viewers. Referencing the history of painting – especially action painting and abstract expressionism – and drawing on feminism and performance art, Black proposes an expanded idea of sculpture as a process of gesture and intuitive sensory interaction with materials. 

The exhibition was well-organized with the theme of display as a representation of exhibitionism of the feminine. The sculptures at the first gallery space I believe were aiming to that idea of relating the work to fetishized representations of the feminine and the female identity being display at the window displays as a commodity that is being sold. Additionally, all the sculptures exhibited in the three spaces are depicting references of commodification of the feminine as they were installed either at the corner of the space or the centre so as the viewer to have the opportunity to go close to them and notify them as products of exhibitionism. However, at the same time the large-scale sculptures were filling the space and they seemed to dominate the rooms or being part of the architecture of the space such as the piece- Is expected to happen. The gallery space was a common ground of the two forces-the work and the viewer, a space that encompassed both of them collectively. 

Karla Black, Popularly Believed, (detail view), 2012, cellophane, sellotape, paint, spray deodorant, foot spray, 169 x 193 x 155 cm

I personally believe that her practice suggests a different idea of what is sculpture and installation and how it's identified within western culture with the proposal of seeing sculpture as an encounter that is primarily intuitive, experimental and sensory with pure materiality. By describing her work as a process of thinking, feeling and relating she suggests a language that is not verbal but visual and sensory as a response to a non-linguistic way of relating to the cosmos in general. She is well-known for creating an experience for the viewer that is compelled as visceral for its physicality and materiality that immerses the need to touch, sense or even taste as most of her pieces resemble to sweet delights of gastronomic art, whilst the viewer is aware of the fragility and improvised nature of the work that isn't exhibited for sensory approach.

 

 

Talk: Hostings 7: Presence - Manifesting Ghosts, 14th March, 6.30 - 9.00pm Senate House, University of London

An evening of interdisciplinary talks and presentations exploring the desire to materialise what is absent.

http://www.host-a-ghost.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/hosting-7-presence-manifesting...

Almost a month ago, I attended a seminar of a series of talks called G-host series around the issues of perception on life and death and its in-between state of spirits. The talk was questioning via a series of presentations by a group of artists, a philosopher/anthropologist and a cultural theorist the potentiality of what is a ghost entity within western culture and exploring the presence or absence of these spirits within our contemporary societies' beliefs.

The presentations:

Hollington and Kyprianou: Technology and the Uncanny

http://www.electronicsunset.org/

mediums of digital technology in relation to installation and video performance are the elements of Hollington's and Kyprianou's art practice. Their work is based on the representation of the absent in relation to mediatised devices that fetishize what is considered physical and present in art. 

Through the creation of installations of domestic objects presented in relation to technology for the development of video representations, the artists aim to depict the haunted and the sublime of what is absent.

The film 'Last chance for a slow dance' of 2002,  had no digital effects. Instead, it was made through the use of lighting, framing, sound, and fishing tackle using physical analogue  means as 'special effects' so to challenge the new digital orthodoxies. A static camera records seemingly ‘poltern’ activity within an empty room in a derelict house. A chair descends into frame and lands with a portentious bang. Once settled, it creaks and, scrapes along the floor, and then is thrown about, against the wall and out into the room off camera. Their interest in theatrical illusionistic processes and cinematic side-shows they are referencing a cultural phenonemon of beliefs and superstitions on the existence of ghosts in derelict houses. So, one could say that the uncanny in this instance, (at least amongst tech savvy types) was created by knowing how it was produced, that one can still make ‘realistic’ ‘special effects’ using physical, analogue means.

Simon Hollington and Kypros Kyprianou, EVA London Conference ~ 11–13 July 2007: 'What we hoped to achieve was to show  how such ‘evidence’ can be faked, by producing a film that only evidences one thing, that it is a film, and so can not be trusted. Framed by the space the activity took place in, we were hoping to give a senseof the haunted media – the media of the recording and of the architecture in which it took place – creating the uncanny through the haunted location trapped (as was the chair by the monitor sitting on it that now showed the ‘documentation’) by the filmed document now seen inhabiting the space.' 

The challenge of what is absent in their work is the deliberate decision of presenting the absence through the presence. They believe that the ghosts are absent and they very own use of magical tricks is what makes their work a critique on the belief and superstitions that the ghosts exist.

An interesting point that the artists noted at the end of their presentation was about the technological evolution of humanity in relation to the uncanny. Network devices are the parafernalia of our lives. They analysed the notion of the uncanny in relation to the use of devices such as the Surrealist ready-mades and the 'new type of uncanny' which is the robotic technology. They particularly noted that the robots are nowadays indistinguishable from humans in appearance and function with the only difference on death and the abnormal behavior of humans when they are dehumanized. The uncanny is related to the evolution of humanity in relation to technology and the desire to clone the human elements.    

Technology can produce absence to the present and at the same way presence to the absent. 

Jack Hunter: Expressions of Spirithood

“Again and again anthropologists witness spirit rituals, and again and again some indigenous exegete tries to explain that spirits are present… And the anthropologist proceeds to interpret them differently… We anthropologists need training to see what the Natives see” 
Edith Turner - 'The Reality of Spirits: A Tabooed or Permitted Field of Study?' (1993)

 http://paranthropology.weebly.com/index.html

The social anthropologist Jack Hunter introduced through his presentation the relationship between performance and the paranormal. His statement: 'We use our bodies to express our internal psychological states and emotions, our personalities. The personality is the sum total of the behavioral and mental characteristics that are distinctive for the individual.'

Performance alters behavior. The alterations change the personality of the face. Altered behaviors are different within each cultural contract. He noted that the presence of spirithood can be identified through gestures and movements. Recognizing altered consciousness can be made via behaviors. His interest is in parapsychological performance that is noted through uncontrolled and ambiguous movements in relation to cultural beliefs. The spirit or absent other is implied through the act of speaking. The nature of performance is based on the use of the body to depict a psychological state. If that state is based on the paranormal can be easily identified through the performance of the body. http://paranthropology.weebly.com/audio--video.html

Hunter based his research on the theory of Richard Schechner of performance in relation to rituals and behavioral conditions. He noted that performance out of control can be identified as possesion and spiritual hysteria with psychological tensions. Believing on the existence of spirits he noted his research on possessed behaviors that can be identified, as he says, through the performance of the body and especially the voice. His research's aim: to further our understanding of the nature of spirits and their culturally specified modes of expression in the physical world.

http://paranthropology.weebly.com/jack-hunter.html

John Sabol - The Forgotten Soldier: Manifestations of the Continuing Presence of Colonel William Holmes (1862-2011)

http://ghostexcavation.com/

The cultural theorist and archeologist John Sabol during the talk presented an interesting theory based on the relationship between archaelogical facts and locations that are interpreted as haunted. He was stating that through the use of theatre techniques and archeological methodologies locations can be re-interpreted and the truth of the past facts to be revealed. 

However, the interesting and ambivalent element of his theory that came out through his presentation was the fact that he believes that through the process of re-creating events via dialogue and acting at the locations where historical facts happened, he is able to communicate with the spirits of the dead that died during the battles and haven't returned back home. 

Theoretically, the recreation of events for the sake of justice and return of the dead seems really fascinating. However, practically his presentation had some ambivalence. The evidence of these excavations that he presented wasn't that convicing and therefore at the end of the presentation during the Q/A session he was particularly challenged and disputed by the audience. The evidence that he presented was a video made out of images of the process of the excavation as a narrated documentary that was aiming to evoke sentimental identification to the audience and sounds that were produced during the excavations which he noted as recordings of the voice of the dead Colonel William Holmes the soldier that was aiming to find the body and return to his family. The soldier William Holmes died on September 17th of 1862 and from that day on his body is considered lost. The archeological/theatrical excavation was aiming to the finding of the body and its return to his homeland. The responses that Sabol was pointing during the documentary of the voices that were heard didn't even come to the ears of the audience. His presentation wasn't convicing but he still kept believing on his project as an excellent actor that performs a role and believes in it. He commented that his excavations will continue and the next time that he will go back to the location he will have a greater response from the spirits and will most definitely find the body.

I certainly believe that the absence of the spirits of the dead within this presentation remains absence, and not present as the presenter was suggesting, even though the process of recreating events on specific locations is interesting. However, I think that can be named as a method of site-specific performance or theatre. 

 

Hoxton Art Gallery, 27th January-1st March

Gallery Visit: Thursday, 1st March

Presenting artists: James Bacchi-Andreoli, Steven Dickie, David Jones, Wieland Payer

The exhibition Utopia was based on the text by the literal Sir Thomas More that depicts an imaginary society on an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The concept of Utopia as More describes is based on the relationship between socialist utopian ideals and the realities of human existence while embarking on an incredible journey. The exhibition was aiming to depict the artists vision upon the More's utopia through the mediums of painting, digital painting, drawing, sculpture and photographic prints. 

The exhibition included otherworldly and ethereal landscapes of cosmic environments that were consistent around abstract representations of crystals that are seen to be the core of these cosmic landscapes. The artworks are pointing out allegories of utopian islands through architectural features and peculiar characters that are found on hyperreal and extremely ethereal colours of the acrylic and pastel palette.

The drawings and paintings of the exhibition are exploring the romantic notion or satirical realities of the scientifical and literal representations of the utopian world. The works are spread in two floors divided into wall-based works and small sculptures all placed around the walls of the two spaces as in a cycle that navigated the viewer to see the works circularly as being part of the world's understanding as a circular entity. A magnifying glass attached on a photographic camera is pointing towards the perspective of the gallery and magnifying glasess are being placed within the space as a way linking the two sides of the cubed space. The magnifying glass attached on the camera aims to link the space with the viewer. Seeing it through the viewer's perspective I was driven by the interactive element of the work as when you looked through the camera the only thing that you would see is yourself and some imagery of the space at the other side. The sound was the dominant element in the lower space as the other artworks were mainly paintings and drawings. 

The concept of the exhibition was well-thought but not that contemporary i believe as the artists were aiming to show different perspectives of More's idea of what utopia is in order to create their own utopian narratives. However, the curation of the exhibition was well-organised and planned but not that challenging as the works were mainly wall-based.

In my point of view, the exhibition had really good potentials to create enchantement to the viewer through the idea of what is a utopian place but it just sticked to the usual elements of presenting the idea such as drawn architectural representations of landscapes through the traditional mediums of pastel drawing,painting and photography. However, I think the artworks were magnificently made and well-structured in terms of materials, methods and techniques but not that impressive as they couldn't be described as unique and original; they had references on Japanese and Chinese drawing techniques and styles and western drawing style but with the use of pastels.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday 28th February 2012 

Task 1: Divide into groups of three, choose one to three sites and present three images that express a theme from the ones: a dream, a crime, a celebration, a memory and a death. The three images must reflect the three narrative effects: the entrance point, the key moment and the after effect of the moment. The transition between the three still images must be taken into consideration for the flowing of the plot. 

That was the first task that we were given by the artist Geraldine Pilgrim to present on the Tuesday's workshop session. We were divided into three groups and each one of them presented three separate sites that were linked together within the form of the narrative upon the themes that we were given by Geraldine. 

The first group: Pingping, Katheryn, Youngshin

The first group presented a nightmare at the spaces-the back yard of the theatre space, the corridor of the fire exit and outside the entrance of the fire exit of the theatre space- through the use of extreme dreamlike still body positions that were framing the architecture of the spaces. They had to ask from the audience to see the three still images in groups as their choice of placing the audience emphasized the dreamlike atmosphere of their work. We were asked to see the first image of them being placed on the floor of the corridor of the fire exit with the feet expanded towards the walls of the space, through the small window of the entrance door. The transition between the first image and the second was based on them going outside the corridor and looking towards the audience from the window of the facing door in the position of shock expressed through their facial expressions. The third image continued to being developed outside the space of the corridor with their placement onto the fence of the back yard of the theatre space, we as the audience were asked to walk through the corridor and see the image via the window of the other door, where they were placed.  The first group I believe had really good still images with a distinctive aesthetics and characteristics in their development however as a member of the audience I was a bit confused in terms of what theme they were presenting as it seemed a combination of a dream, a death and a memory with no clear identification of each one. 

What was emphasized during the meeting after the presentation of the three performances is that the first group posited the question on how much you can control the audience during a performance and how much affection you take care of them during the process such as the placing of the audience from where to watch the performance in order to see the effect that you want to present and the duration of each of the still images in order to emphasize your intention of the work.

The second group: Chris, Soohee, Thelma

My group had chosen to embody the theme of crime in relation to death and memory. We chose to show the narrative through the three images in a reversed order as flashback moments in time. The three images were telling the story of a crime that was held on the time that the two witnesses were passing by the crime scene, and they chose to become partners in the crime by hiding the corpse in the rubbish area. However, the whole narrative was in the reversed order, so as to emphasize that it was part of a memory. 

According to the feedback by the audience the three images and the transition from one scene to the next one through the use of the trolley were successful and clear for them to understand the narrative but at the same time the images were individually dynamic on their own too. What was challenging for the group: To manage to attract the attention of the accidental audience that was passing by the site of the performance and to make them stay to watch what was happening.  

The third group: Yuqing, James, Cheng-yuan

The third group was having as a theme the notion of escaping a memory. Three locations that they selected for their performances were really interesting and beautiful as backgrounds for their narrative, however the link between them wasn't clear enough for us to see it and to understand the plot of the narrative. The reason of identifying the narrative as a bit complicated and not that clear was the long distance between the three sites and the unfortunate happening of finding the door of the third site locked in which the performers were supposed to be located in with facing the audience as being trapped in the memory. 

According to the feedback of the third group's performance, the meaning of the narrative was more important than the images which made the plot to be seen as complicated and unclear for the audience to understand what was happening, as it would be better the meaning and the image to be equally important for the development of the plot.

The outcome of the three performances: to simplify the work=you communicate more with the audience.

Task 2: Presenting a personal object (Photos by Youngshin Yang)

The second task that we were asked to complete was to present one of our favourite objects and to explain why we like that object and what it means to us. Each one of us presented interesting items, some of them valuable in price, others not, but all of them had sentimental value to each one of us, as they were connected with moments, places and people from our lives. What was really intriguing during these presentations was the way that each member of our group presented the object and especially the literal and body language of each presentation as in a way it revealed a part of our individual personalities. Additionally, the whole workshop gave us the opportunity to remember the moments connected with the object, places and people that the object reminds us, an exercise that I found really therapeutic and emotionally fulfilled. 

Thursday 1st March 2012:

Task 1: Fairy-stories

Divide into two groups and select a fairystory that everyone will know. The structure of the fairy story must end to the identification of a moral. The structure of the fairy stories: the main character is someone that in some point of his/her life is put in an unfortunate condition that shouldn't be dealing with, and is asked to overcome the conditions, to challenge himself and the ending must be a catharsis-an after effect that concludes the cycle of the conditions that she/he's dealing with either it's happy or not. 

The fairy stories of the two groups:

1. The Emperor's New Clothes
2. Hansel and Gretel

The first group was consisted by James and Pingping as the tailors, Thelma as the Emperor, Soohee and Cheng-yuan as the guards of the emperor. We were asked to select the key moments that we thought as important from the narrative and to make a story that should have still and moving images. The significance of the task should be based on how you manage to lead the audience through the sites in order to realize what the story was about through the use of either sound, props, costumes and performance positioning but not text. 

Most importantly the exercise was aiming to the managing of the audience, the sustaining of the audience's attention to the performance and attracting the accidental audience's attention. I believe that both the groups made a significant work and managed to accomplish the task successfully as the audience understood both of the narratives that were presented, they were simple and consistent in time and they managed the transition between the still images and the movement to flow genuinely between them. However, my group seemed to overcomplicated the narrative with showing extra details which I believe were significant in showing for understanding the story as the second group's was simpler and more consistent. During the latter, the audience was led through the narrative and the sites by a character as in ours was by the two guards who were responsible for managing the position of the characters and the spectators. However, I believe that the performance of the Emperor's new clothes was consistent and well-thought in terms of navigation and emphasis on the comic and dramatic aspects of the story. The only aspect that we had to expand was the ending as it's duration should be longer, with the disappearance of the characters from the audience's view. 

Task 2: Installations that reflect a fairytale

The task: To create an installation through the use of objects and two performers that will reflect a fairy tale based on the site that you choose. 

Groups:

1. Pinocchio: Cheng-yuan, James, Thelma
2. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: Pingping, Soohee, Yuqing
3. Lord of the Flies: Youngshin, Chris, Katheryn

The results that all the groups came up through the several workshops with the artist Geraldine Pilgrim were incredibly interesting and made us re-consider the various forms and areas of performance that serve the beautiful aspects of the sites that you select to be part of for moments in time, in order to create your own narrative that becomes a collective narrative which is then being re-interpreted by the audience's own experiences and imagination. Performance can be made even through the use of simple movements and objects in relation to place and time, as performance serves our own minds and become part of our own narratives.