Day #2 in the workshop constructing the head-piece for Symbiomechanics.
Technician: John Simpson
Photography: Conor Baum
Friday 20 September 2013
Wednesday 18 September 2013
PERFORMANCE: in the workshop
Day #1 in the workshop constructing the head-piece for Symbiomechanics.
Technician: John Simpson
Photography: Conor Baum
Press Release
Press Release - Subjecting Objects
Work inspired by invoking an absent curator from the world of objects as a glimpse into an imaginary chaos of Things. This collaboration will be a catalyst for new thought and activity by participants: Conor Baum, Federica Landi, Francesca Marcaccio Hitzeman, Laura Smith and Poppy Whatmore - not only strengthening our collective spirit but also giving us a stronger grounding within the local community. This Art Licks event is an exciting opportunity for us to host a part show/part open studio event, providing a glimpse into an imaginary objects’ terrain. Visitors will be able to see the studios where our research takes place as well as attend workshops, performances and a symposium where the artists will discuss their work.
Open Studios:
Thursday 3rd October: 6-9pm
Friday 4th October: 11-6pm
Saturday 5th October: 11-6pm
Sunday 6th October: 11-6pm
Performance times:
3pm and 5pm Saturday 5th October:
3pm and 5pm Sunday 6th October:
3pm and 5pm
Artists’ talk and discussion:
Sunday 6th October: 12pm
Artists:
Baum researches the affect of technology upon the human experience in relationship to objects. The performance, Symbiomachanics, explores the symbiosis of the animate and imanimate with regard to humans and objects, pushing to the extreme a symbiosis of absolute dependence. A costumed, controlled device, in which both visual and audio sensory devices mediate through technological devices, questioning whether the balance of our human-object relationship is symbiotic or parasitic.
Landi is fascinated by physical and cultural correspondences between the body and the space. Both the surface of our body and the textures of the objects that surround us are part of the same ‘extended flesh’, as Merleau-Ponty defines it, where all the elements intertwine and remind each other.
Marcaccio creates work that repeatedly returns to the themes of belonging and humans’ connections to their environment. Her work is often an exploration of how the human physical form interacts with a metaphorical, physical or psychological space. Francesca investigates the ways individuals use objects to negotiate their interior space, their nesting ground, in an increasingly geographically fractured existence.
Pager’s work examines the conflict of physical reality. The work pushes forward materiality against the prevalence of the virtual world. It is this reflection that heightens an extensive language of materiality in exploration. As the new dimension is dematerialized in state, the material world develops a more poignant presence.
Smith’s work positions itself near the edge of still life painting, where it approaches abstraction. She is interested in dissolving our familiarity with everyday objects. Currently, she is working with the idea that repeated motifs not only allow for a deeper investigation of the objects themselves but also a freedom in their depiction. By subverting and deconstructing the conventional uses of chosen objects
Whatmore transforms everyday objects into animated anthropomorphic and zoomorphic forms. The methodological approach includes assemblage, a technique she employs to reconfigure conventional forms into surprising and playful arrangements, portraying the flaws and failures of the human condition.
Artists’ Biographies:
Both Smith and Whatmore graduated from The Slade School of Fine Art in 2012 (MFA). Pager studied a Postgraduate Diploma at Chelsea College of Art and Design (2010) and is completing a Goldsmiths MFA (2014). Landi and Marcaccio Hitzeman graduated from London College of Communication in 2012 (MA), Photography. Baum is a performer and theatre director and a recent graduate of Rose Brudford College of Theatre and Performance, (2013). Notable exhibitions include New Contempories 2012 (works chosen for Saatchi’s Public Collection), Creekside Open 2011 and Jerwood Drawing Prize 2011, 2012. Landi is currently represented by Millennium Images and Pager, has exhibited internationally at Gallerie 8 Stand during RAW, Rotterdam (2012). Marcaccio has exhibited extensively in Italy and London: for instance The Photographers Gallery, (2012): recent publications include Photo Vogue. Awards include the Clare Winsten Memorial Award, Arts and Humanities Research Council Award (2010-2012) and Columbia College Award, USA for Best Director (2011).
Work inspired by invoking an absent curator from the world of objects as a glimpse into an imaginary chaos of Things. This collaboration will be a catalyst for new thought and activity by participants: Conor Baum, Federica Landi, Francesca Marcaccio Hitzeman, Laura Smith and Poppy Whatmore - not only strengthening our collective spirit but also giving us a stronger grounding within the local community. This Art Licks event is an exciting opportunity for us to host a part show/part open studio event, providing a glimpse into an imaginary objects’ terrain. Visitors will be able to see the studios where our research takes place as well as attend workshops, performances and a symposium where the artists will discuss their work.
Open Studios:
Thursday 3rd October: 6-9pm
Friday 4th October: 11-6pm
Saturday 5th October: 11-6pm
Sunday 6th October: 11-6pm
Performance times:
3pm and 5pm Saturday 5th October:
3pm and 5pm Sunday 6th October:
3pm and 5pm
Artists’ talk and discussion:
Sunday 6th October: 12pm
Artists:
Baum researches the affect of technology upon the human experience in relationship to objects. The performance, Symbiomachanics, explores the symbiosis of the animate and imanimate with regard to humans and objects, pushing to the extreme a symbiosis of absolute dependence. A costumed, controlled device, in which both visual and audio sensory devices mediate through technological devices, questioning whether the balance of our human-object relationship is symbiotic or parasitic.
Landi is fascinated by physical and cultural correspondences between the body and the space. Both the surface of our body and the textures of the objects that surround us are part of the same ‘extended flesh’, as Merleau-Ponty defines it, where all the elements intertwine and remind each other.
Marcaccio creates work that repeatedly returns to the themes of belonging and humans’ connections to their environment. Her work is often an exploration of how the human physical form interacts with a metaphorical, physical or psychological space. Francesca investigates the ways individuals use objects to negotiate their interior space, their nesting ground, in an increasingly geographically fractured existence.
Pager’s work examines the conflict of physical reality. The work pushes forward materiality against the prevalence of the virtual world. It is this reflection that heightens an extensive language of materiality in exploration. As the new dimension is dematerialized in state, the material world develops a more poignant presence.
Smith’s work positions itself near the edge of still life painting, where it approaches abstraction. She is interested in dissolving our familiarity with everyday objects. Currently, she is working with the idea that repeated motifs not only allow for a deeper investigation of the objects themselves but also a freedom in their depiction. By subverting and deconstructing the conventional uses of chosen objects
Whatmore transforms everyday objects into animated anthropomorphic and zoomorphic forms. The methodological approach includes assemblage, a technique she employs to reconfigure conventional forms into surprising and playful arrangements, portraying the flaws and failures of the human condition.
Artists’ Biographies:
Both Smith and Whatmore graduated from The Slade School of Fine Art in 2012 (MFA). Pager studied a Postgraduate Diploma at Chelsea College of Art and Design (2010) and is completing a Goldsmiths MFA (2014). Landi and Marcaccio Hitzeman graduated from London College of Communication in 2012 (MA), Photography. Baum is a performer and theatre director and a recent graduate of Rose Brudford College of Theatre and Performance, (2013). Notable exhibitions include New Contempories 2012 (works chosen for Saatchi’s Public Collection), Creekside Open 2011 and Jerwood Drawing Prize 2011, 2012. Landi is currently represented by Millennium Images and Pager, has exhibited internationally at Gallerie 8 Stand during RAW, Rotterdam (2012). Marcaccio has exhibited extensively in Italy and London: for instance The Photographers Gallery, (2012): recent publications include Photo Vogue. Awards include the Clare Winsten Memorial Award, Arts and Humanities Research Council Award (2010-2012) and Columbia College Award, USA for Best Director (2011).
Artists’ Details
Conor Baum: conorbaum@yahoo.co.uk
Federica Landi: www.federicalandi.com
Francesca Marcaccio: www.francescaemme.com
Sarah Pager: www.sarahpager.com
Laura Smith: www.laura-smith.com
Poppy Whatmore: www.poppywhatmore.co.uk
To view please visit:
ACAVA Studios, Bermondsey
49 Grange Walk
London SE1 3DY http://www.acava.org/studios/building/grange-walk-studios
Tuesday 10 September 2013
Friday 6 September 2013
PERFORMANCE: symbiomechanics prototype #1
symbiosis /ˌsimbēˈōsis/
interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association, typically to the advantage of both.
biomechanics/ˌbīōməˈkaniks/
the study of the mechanical laws relating to the movement or structure of living organisms.
“As both a person and a
performer, and having grown up in the digital age, I have always been
profoundly interested in the affect of technology upon the human experience.
Relating this to objects – I have recently become intrigued by the
anthropocentric way in which we use objects, both natural and crafted, with
regards to their particular utility to us as a species.
The photograph above demonstrates
a very early prototype for a performance I have titled Symbiomechanics. Technology, to me, represents the symbiosis of
animate and inanimate, human and object. What I am particularly interested in
discovering through performance is raising the stakes of that symbiosis to
absolute dependence.
In the image above (and in the gallery below) you can see a
scratch test for a helmet-piece worn by the performer in which both visual and
audio sensory inputs are mediated by technological devices. Through further
tests, I am keen to add additional devices to replace the other sensory inputs
that the human body has (touch, taste, smell) as well as mediating other basic
functions (movement, communication etc.), blurring the lines between animate
and inanimate and questioning whether the balance of our human-object
relationship is symbiotic or parasitic?”
Conor Baum
Photography Credit: Laura Smith
Conor Baum is a performer and theatre director and a recent graduate of Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance. Throughout his training, his work frequently addressed deconstructive philosophy and contemporary politics in relation to performance. His major investigative pieces were Staging Écriture Féminine, an experimental work that attempted to examine the work of Hélène Cixous and Jacques Derrida in a performative model; The Greek Plays, a selection of performance materials from ancient tragic sources in relation to contemporary socio-political events; and Foul Fucking Necessity, an investigation into the queer performance work of Andy Warhol’s Factory and The Play-House of the Ridiculous in the late 1960s. In December 2011, Conor received Best Director at the Columbia College Awards in Chicago for his immersive installation version of Sophocles’ Oedipus The King.
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