terra incognita

I’m about to begin a project that, even in its earliest conversations, already feels like a turning point in my work. It’s a collaboration with another artist. I will be creating pieces that accompany her in her performance.

There has always been a framework; a concept or a narrative within which a work is created and also when it’s communicated: via galleries, exhibitions, displays, social media. Some or other space where the work can be understood, placed, explained and eventually sold. It feels as though, for the first time, my relationship with my work will not end at a point of sale. This time, the objects I create won’t stand alone or be interpreted on a plinth or a wall. They will exist inside the performance, as part of the movement, objects she will move with, perform around, inhabit. Their meaning will arise not from labels or context, but from what unfolds between the performer, the object, and the audience in real time.

We imagine them as entities of a parallel world; forms that evoke the organic, the archaic, the celestial; a bird, an animal. As of now, their meaning lives precisely in their obscurity, their ambiguity, their ability to hold multiple, layered associations without collapsing into a single, fixed identity. They could resemble a seed, a womb, a fossil, a limb, a fragment of an ancient tool, or a weapon. Just putting it all out there! They’re familiar and alien at once, something you almost recognize but can’t quite name, artifacts from a world that exists only in the imagination, and now in material.

Conceptually speaking, all of this already exists quite naturally in my everyday headspace, but there are certain constraints in the construction that differ from the usual parameters that guide my hand-building work, namely:

The objects will have to be built with the curves and crevices of the human body in mind, as well as the movements of the performance. This will be an iterative process. As I arrive at the forms by observing her movements, she extends the performance, incorporating the works.

Sound is an essential aspect of this performance. The artist will use the objects to generate sound as she moves, creating a conversation between material, body, and resonance. So I will also need to explore this; to design forms that interact not just visually, but also sonically. I may even draw inspiration from ancient sound-making objects like whistles or instruments.

I have to create works that are not too heavy, so the dancer can move without restraint. But at the same time, these objects must be sturdy and not fragile. This tension also plays out visually. While the objects may appear fluid and organic, they will be made of ceramic; hard, delicate, fragile. The performer’s forceful, expressive movements will constantly brush up against the risk of shattering. This fragile-hard tension, this interplay between vulnerability and strength, excites me as much as it unnerves me

I can’t wait to begin, to see where this open, shifting process takes us.

tbc..