Out of motion
Performance
Dating back in the beginning of the MFA Fine Art course, this work is one of my firs investigations into Performance Art. My purpose was to communicate the concept of confinement through the different states and expressions of movement. It expanded in an installation-performance experiment, where the performer is attached to a set which functions as a mobile structure, defining the space.
A metaphor of an external normativity, a wooden board/platform, is suspended over the figure, 'pushing' her down to the floor, Hanging from a construction/potentially from the ceiling/, the mobile is positioned near the ground level, limiting the performer's motion with the pressure and a number of ropes, which, piercing the wooden surface of the structure are tied around the performer's arms and legs. The massage conveyed in an abstract way here talks about the limits of the outside circumstances, those that surround and confront us, seem oppressing and block us, but often this is a consequence from the own actions, decisions, and respond.
Interestingly, during the 'rehearsals' and testing of the mobile installation, various different translations of the way it moved occurred. The initial technical plan was dynamic algorithm between movement of the body and the structure to be achieved, giving some freedom to the figure. Instead, the way the ropes were organized, seemingly chaotic, but in fact with specified positions, caused stronger limitation to the movement - a result, which responded better to the desired idea. The simultaneous motion between the structure and the body resulted in a curious contrast between smooth, floating on the surface 'swing' and spread in different directions arms and legs under it, but at the same time the scene looked like one swinging entity, whose motion was tensed and emotional at the same time.
Carmen Beuchat
Trained as a classic and modern ballet dancer, the Chilean artist Carmen Beuchat creates a link between her visual and choreography work inventing spatial composition, 'incorporating the use of mobile structures in her choreography'.
The presence of inanimate objects, replacing a co-dancer, a co-partner creates an uncanny environment. Somehow, the dominant appearance of Beuchat occupies the space, but at the same time the stiffness, the scale, the shapeless structures are in control and out of control. They look prevailing at times and even threatening in their silent, monotonous sway. The idea to 'dress' the crude material with the softness of fabric implies the illusion that lifeless materials might be transformed and almost brought to life. An abstract scene, where movement shifts between unfamiliar dimensions.
