Acting in Numbers
Summary
Acting in Numbers was a solo exhibition at Galleri Image, Aarhus, DK. Uniting photography and performance, the works in Coble’s worked focused on iconic symbols, bodily gestures, chants, and signals used in political protest and as forms of resistance.
Supported by
Galleri Image, Aarhus DK
Danish Arts Foundation
City of Aarhus
BUPL Solidaritets- og Kulturfond
Description of project
Uniting photography and performance, the works in Coble’s solo exhibition focus on iconic symbols, bodily gestures, chants, and signals used in political protest and as forms of
resistance. Photography and performance can offer distinct temporalities that are urgent for capturing, sharing and activating often ephemeral signs of defiance.
The photo series Performing Defiance (2015) captures moments from a durational performance involving a pink latex triangle and an abundance of glitter. Here, the artist repeated the act of raising a clenched fist in protest for an exaggerated period of time, which opened for unpredictability, messiness, and even failure.
Whereas photography is drawing with light, the artist has also used drawing with blood as a consistent method for over a decade.
In Timeline of Disruption (2016) Coble had a number of lines drawn on the body as inkless tattoos. The thin line of blood that formed on the skin was transferred onto paper through the physical imprints of the artist positioning their own body to mimic that of gestures used as resistance.
Light is both the source and the main medium in PULSE (2016). The photo series documents the ten-day performance, where the artist climbed the Cinesphere at an abandoned amusement park each night to repurpose it as a beacon of protest. A series of Morse Code messages were transmitted to collaborators positioned throughout the park who then relayed the message on using their own light source. The morsed messages were composed of chants used in recent and current protests and fights for civil rights.
The work continues in a new form as the light installation Pulsing (2018) shown in Galleri Image’s project space. At the website https://pulsinginaarhus.tumblr.com people can add a civil rights chant, a lyric from a protest song or a verse from a poem of to be morsed by the light out onto the street. This work was developed in collaboration with nuclear engineer, energy activist and programmer Nick Touran.
The photographic installation We are here (2017) and the video work One Movement (2017), are based on traces of the marches and protests against Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington, DC January 2017. Both reflect Coble’s meticulous, on foot, documentation of the fences surrounding the White House. The individual pieces of We are here can be moved around in the gallery, purchased and potentially reactivated in another context. All income from the sales of this work (3500 DK) was donated to LGBT Asylum- a Danish NGO working for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons in the Danish asylum system.
A zine for Acting in Numbers was published by Coble discussing all the works and was given out for free during the exhibition, following the tradition of queer self publishing and distribution.
Type of work
Solo Exhibition including 6 bodies of work and a publication
Published in
Galleri Image, Aarhus DK
Link to web site
http://www.marycoble.com/solo-exhibitions-installations/acting-in-numbers-at-galleri-image-aarhus-denmark-2018
http://www.galleriimage.dk/index.php/en/component/rseventspro/event/222
https://kunsten.nu/journal/queer-kunstners-call-to-arms/
https://finespind.dk/index.php/artikler-og-billedserier/815-queer-feminisme-og-social-retfaerdighed-kunstner-mary-coble-i-galleri-image-interview
Date
2018-01-12Creator
Coble, Mary
Keywords
Art and Activism
Artistic Research
Photography
Performance Art
Performativity
Play
Political
Protest
Activism
Publication type
artistic work
Language
eng