Playlist:

Bodies

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In this week's Playlist we present a selection of videos by our members that examine 'Bodies' as part of their practice.


Gemma Riggs, Step, 2013

 

Step is a film work that has been made in collaboration with Irish Choreographer Laura Murphy. The film grew out of a series of research residencies in European cities that sparked interdisciplinary working.

Step was filmed in the grounds of Ceauçescu’s Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest, Romania and uses the stark marble of the controversial building to frame the moving body.

It has been screened at the Whitstable Biennial 2014 and Coastal Currents Festival 2013, Tipperary Dance Platform 2013, Zagare Fringe Festival (Lithuania) and was part of Unfold, an exhibition at Cork Film Centre.

Check out Gemma's profile on Axisweb >


Katri Walker, An Equilibrium Not of This World, 2012

 

An Equilibrium Not of This World takes its title from Chinese Geographer Yi-Fu Tuan who writes about human beings’ search for the ideal environment and a connection with the world around us. The film uses running, and hillrunning specifically, as a conduit for the exploration of this symbiotic relationship between the body and landscape, the balance between nature and machine, and the intersection between internal and external experience.

NVA and Edinburgh Art Festival jointly commissioned this work as part of NVA’s Speed of Light project. Speed of Light was a highlight of Edinburgh International Festival and part of London 2012 Festival.

Please note: This film contains a wide range of subtle audio, for the optimum experience please use headphones or connect external speakers to your computer.

Check out Katri's profile on Axisweb >


Emily Speed, Build-Up, 2013

 

Build-Up was made with five acrobats and shows their bodies as they attempt to mimic architectural structures with their bodies that quickly collapse. There is a short excerpt of the film on Vimeo. With thanks to performers: Lucy Frost, Owen Gaynor, Michaela Kurkiewicz, Scott McQuade, Laura Sumner.

A live event, Build-Up: A Practice took place at the gallery on the final day of the exhibition where four of the acrobats were directed in a series of exercises, which they repeated for around one hour until their structures had become shaky and unstable.

Check out Emily's profile on Axisweb >


James Steventon, 100 Up, 2014

 

The “Hundred Up” is an exercise invented by WG George, the fastest miler of 19th century, which consists of a drill to perfect running form.

The drill consists of either walking or running on the spot, over a fixed series of parallel lines marked on the floor. Alternating legs are raised by bringing one knee to the height of the hip, bringing the foot back down again to its original position, touching the line lightly with the ball of the foot, before repeating with the other leg.

The exercise should be repeated, maintaining perfect form, 100 times.

As the drill is practiced, proprioception (the awareness of the relative position of the body in space and the strength of effort being employed in the movement) is improved over a surface area of approximately 1 square metre.

One’s own body can be considered as a sculpture in the round.

The variation in attempting to maintain perfect form over 100 repetitions, by translating my own body as a series of data points is manipulated in three dimensional space via the experimental RGBD film making process.

An ongoing piece of research, initially presented at OMM - One Metre Measured, at NN Contemporary Art.

Check out James' profile on Axisweb >


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