Assembly
Summary
Assembly is a live performance where five collaborators use physical movements to reflect on current political urgencies such as the rise of fascism. Developed through a method of scoring, both choreographed and improvisational movements aim to speak to power structures, exclusion and assembly as well as non-traditional forms of resistance
Supported by
Jutland Art Academy, Aarhus DK
Galleri Image, Aarhus DK
Description of project
As apart of Coble’s ongoing artistic research linking queer performance, activism and contemporary political urgencies
this 45 mintues live performance was collaboratively developed reflecting on and responding to two key elements including:
The politics of bodies:
Paying attention to how bodies interact with one another the performers oscillated between lone and group movements that reflected on care, aggression, isolation and power. There were moments of frenzied movements, short bursts of recorded sounds (football team chants) and still moment where tableaus of piled bodies were created.
Reseach was done so the performance could reflect on sports teams ‘pump up’ circles and ritualistic pre-game chants specifically focusing on the hypermasculine vocalizations and body positioning of ‘the team’. The idea of the circle and the group assembly became a foundation that formed movements during the performance.
Using the method of scoring, a language for choreographed and improvisational movements were developed that allowed for partial control during the live performance but that could be expanded upon in situ for moments of chance and spontaneity.
The current political climate (2018):
Linking concepts around the Trump administration’s rhetoric in relationship to the Scandinavian and European political climate called for critical thinking around urgencies such as the rise of facism worldwide. Structures of power, exclusion and assembly as well as non-traditional forms of resistance became points of engagement and research for the performance group.
Assembly was apart of: ACTING IN NUMBERS: LINKING PHOTOGRAPHY, PERFORMANCE AND ACTIVISM: January 27, 2018 , 13-18:00, Jutland Art Academy, Aarhus, DK
During the exhibition period of Acting in Numbers, Mary Coble’s solo exhibition at Galleri Image, the complex relations between art and activism as well as photography and performance will further be explored in a public seminar with other practitioners. The seminar will include Mary Coble who will present a collaborative live work and facilitate a panel discussion. Annika Lundgren will be presenting extracts from Winter is Coming - an investigation in progress, inquiring into the relationship between spiritualist practices and the new species of right wing populism that has been emerging in the political landscape over the last 15 years. The project belongs to Lundgren's work series State of Affairs which takes its starting point in various current phenomena and operates with the associative linking of ideas and theories to create new political perspectives. Artist Stense Andrea Lind-Valdan and Art Historian and critic Rune Gade will participate with a performative dialogue about their current collaborative project Fountain. This - in progress dialogue - will connect performance and photography as well as art history, artistic research, and artistic practice into a productive, personal, and intimate dialogue. The artist Nanna Gro Henningsen will be presenting abstracts from A European Afternoon - a cycle of songs for unequal voices and a video montage presenting a historical and mythical take on the politics and humanitarian crisis of contemporary Europe. The metofology and historiography of the work is that of montage from art and literature to news media and refers to the dialectical image of Walter Benjamin's esthetic thinking. Moderator of the seminar is Judith Schwarzbart, rector of Jutland Art Academi. The seminar is in english.
Type of work
Live work
Published in
Commissioned for and included in Acting in Numbers: Linking Photography, Performance and Activism Seminar-a collaboration between Mary Coble; Jutland Art Academy, Aarhus, DK and Galleri Image, Aarhus DK
Link to web site
www.marycoble.com/performances-installations/assembly-2018
www.galleriimage.dk/index.php/en/component/rseventspro/event/222
View/ Open
Date
2018-01-27Creator
Coble, Mary
Arenfeldt, Sara
Niedziela, Jakob
Nielsen, Nicolai
Viialainen, Timo
Keywords
Art and Activism
Artistic Research
Scoring
Hypermasculinity
Performance Art
Performativity Play
Political
Protest
Activism
Publication type
artistic work
Language
eng