Art notes:
I have been looking at moving bodies recently. There are many ways to consider a moving body –(un/sub)conscious/(un)predictable/chaotic/subtle/dramatic/(un)recognisable/
(non)descript/segmented/whole/private/public/(non)gendered/ illusive/realistic/ demonstrative/directive/ generative/relational.
Very glad to have caught several exhibitions and performances in the past few weeks. I don’t always have time to jot down my thoughts, I kinda like it that way. A bit of delay is good, as it lets things settle, simmer, sometimes it mixes stuff up. I get to see things a bit clearer this way.
A week ago, I visited ‘Who’s Been Sleeping in my Bed?’ exhibition at @bath_fringe. Intriguing title, how can I miss that? I've got to see the real thing. As I entered @studio44ad, I saw a bear (not real bear of course) hovering over a chair placed in front of a tv monitor. I sat on the chair, the bear moved. I tried to watch the video on the screen in front of me… got a funny feeling of being watched as I was watching the video. I was distracted, but in a good way. I turned around to see the huge head, textural, it was still moving. I stood up and looked around…. ceramics, paintings, prints, photographs, fragments of primal lives, human lives.
I walked into another space. On one of the walls, there were photographs and a video... moving images, seagulls. Looking down, I saw plaster casts of feet, human feet, webbed feet, truncated at the ankle, assuming that they belong to a seagull and a human … remnants of lives? Where’s the human in the video? I love having to move my eyes around searching for things to look at. Humanesque beings, they are everywhere, etched, perched, painted, alluded. I saw bodies moving around in the room, putting chairs out for other bodies.
I sat down, waiting for the performance by @kelvinatmadibrata to begin. Human voices, human words, semi-human forms, moving, transmogrifying. I love the multi-sensorial experience of this work. I kept looking at the travel luggage as it sat against the white wall; a soft black object atop its handle, which came off when it was time to join the moving body. The body danced, in sync with the upbeat song played from the other side of the room. The animal/man was moving, casting its shadows on the white screen, dramatic and rhythmic. I listened and watched, stirred by the emotions that came through in the story told. I’ve always enjoyed seeing people moving around in art spaces, performers or not.
Not all movements can be seen, sometimes they are heard. I recall watching a
performance by @ratusaraswati
Just yesterday, I was at CSM… among many moving bodies and many creative works. I saw ‘Re-count’ and ‘Forecast’ by @Rayshaoshao, which captured every nuance of humanness…. human concerns about the future, human stories, human relationships, and human memories. No obvious or organic bodies, considering the sleek and elegant outcomes of the presentations, but I was moved.
The moving body seems to be ever-present, not always our own, but almost always about us.
Emma Adams’s ‘Felt’ (2022) installation
Andy Ash’s #isolationartviews project
Kelvin Admadibrata’s performance ‘Who’s a good Boy?’, part of the Who’s Been Sleeping in my Bed? exhibition at the Fringe Arts Bath Festival 2023.
Ray Chong’s ‘Forecast’ and ‘Recount’, BA(Hons) Graphic Communication Design at Central Saint Martins.
@bath_fringe
@ikongallery
@unioftheartslondon