 |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
History 2007 Review:
Tony Knox and Gaynor Evelyn Sweeney, Curiosity (Live Art) at Galerie
Martin Turck, Cologne, Germany, 25 April 2007. (>> Select image to view mpeg of performance).
(German) Gaynor Evelyn Sweeney und Tony Knox haben am Abend des 25. April 2007 den Galerieraum in der Glasstraße auf seine Reize getestet und im Schaufenster - wie auf einer Bühne - eine überraschend flexible live-art-Choreographie entworfen. Die Künstler setzen einer Ästhetik des formlos Legeren, wie sie vor allem von zeitgenössischen jungen britischen Künstlern propagiert wird, eine mit sicherem formalen Gespür entworfene Komposition einer subtil kontrollierten Transformation entgegen. Im Verlauf der Inszenierung entledigt Sweeney sich Stück für Stück eines Wrestling-Kostüms mit Maske, Shirt und Hose, und hängt die Kleidungsstücke an eine über die Breite des Schaufensters gespannte Leine. Knox wiederum nimmt die Trikotteile und legt sie an. Die Zuschauer verfolgen die Szenerie im Schaufenster von der Straße aus. Bedingt durch die Distanz ergänzen im öffentlichen Raum unbeteiligte Passanten und passierende Fahrradfahrer und Automobile unbewusst die Handlung. Kostüm und Maske des Wrestlers – des Athleten und Schauspielers der in England äußerst populären Show-Sportart – sind die zentralen Ausstattungsstücke einer Präsentation, deren Symmetrie von Entkleidung und Einkleidung, Identitätskonstruktion und Identitätswechsel, Metamorphose und kreativem Bodybuilding Bilder freisetzt, die sinnlich und symbolträchtig den menschlichen Körper als skulpturales Werkzeug begreifen. Eine im Formalen gebannte Mechanik von Rollenspiel und Rollentausch scheut die Definition und konfrontiert das Publikum des life-projects mit der Anspielung auf identitätspolitische Erkundungen performativer Konzepte jenseits von extravagantem Stilgefühl, exzentrischer Vision und Illusion. (England Translation to be updated). Statement
of Live Art, Curiosity, by Gaynor Evelyn Sweeney and Tony Knox. Tony Knox and Gaynor Evelyn Sweeney presented a live art collaboration at Galerie Martin Turck in Cologne on 25 April 2007. This was titled 'Curiosity' and a fusion of the concepts from their independent art practices. This live art was associated to the Eight Days a Week Liverpool/Cologne Exchange Programme, managed by Pete Clarke and Georg Gartz respectively. Knox and Sweeney, who both explore the concept of gender politics in performance art. Knox embodied in his own alter ego the idiosyncratic character of Mothman derived from his creative research in wrestling culture. In contrast, Sweeney, whose art is set on the temporality and spatiality of body politics in the post modern environment, institutional constructs and the canon of the body. The performance was researched in response to the gallery space. The artists chose to platform the performance in the window and had to be viewed from outside. A washing line with pegs was visible across the window and two long sheets on either outer edge attached hung. The window itself was sectioned by a band of frosted glass. The two artists entered the window space. The female unrecognisable, her gender concealed by the hybrid costume of the Mothman attire. The male was naked. Each artist took position in the window. The male on the left, behind the white sheet, only his head visible, like a portraiture. The female in the male wrestling persona on the right and similar behind another sheet. The Moth(wo)man walked to the centre of the window area. She momentarily took the stance of a wrestling hero, motionless, as if on a press poster advertising the symbolic of a wrestling protagonist. She removed the mask and fixed it to the line to reveal her long hair and face made up with cosmetics. Next came the leather shorts and then the rest of the body suit. Her naked flesh was concealed by the translucent glass. She returned to the right behind the sheet and faced the male. She un-pegged the white sheet, wrapped it around her body and over her shoulder. She took a pose cognitive of sculpture from antiquity with the folds of sheet falling as a robe and imbued a character from Greek mythology, Hestia; her body poised and arm stretched upwards. The male moved from the left to the centre. Although naked, his exposed body was obscured by the costume on the line and frosted gallery window. He removed the full costume first and slowly dressed. Then moved to the leather shorts and put them on. The last was the mask and he pulled it over his head. Similar to the onset of the position adopted by the Moth(wo)man, he takes a pose of wrestling hero. He then steps down from the ledge of the window. The female, who has remained in the iconic position of Greek statue moves to the centre. The Mothman then lifts her and departs. The male defined as the dominant and the female the submissive. This is an visual analysis of the concept of hero from the precepts ingrained in conventions and representations in post modern society and culture from the historical canons. Although there have been transitions in gender politics of equality and redefinition in the roles, the performance concludes on the common knowledge the stereotypical positions of male and female still pervade in 21st century portrayal’s of gender relationships and equally imbued in mass media. This event was supported by the Curator, Martin Turck, of the gallery and Georg Gartz, who co-ordinates and manages the Cologne groups of Eight Days a Week. Further information can be viewed on the artists and Eight Days a Week at: www.tonyknox.org.uk During their time in Cologne, Knox and Sweeney had the opportunity to meet with other Eight Days a Week and Cologne artists.
From
left to right: Martin Turck, Tine Wille, Gaynor Evelyn Sweeney, Georg
Gartz, Martin
Turck (Curator, Writer and Professor). |
||||||||||||||||||||
www.eightdaysaweek.org.uk
Website
Design: Tony Knox