- Title: The Collection
- Summary: The Collection is a series of ambitious collaborations that look at the interfaces of contemporary art and dance, where these worlds intersect and how they might inform one another. At the heart of The Collection is a mutual curiosity for potential exchanges across both art forms, and an exploration of the connections and disconnections within them. For nearly three weeks, performers and artists presented specially commissioned dance and artworks at Victoria Miro Gallery in North London and Siobhan Davies Studios in South London. The Collection subsequently evolved into a new collaboration with Ikon Gallery in Birmingham. The following were New Commissions for the Collection: Minutes - Siobhan Davies Dance: Siobhan Davies, Matthias Sperling, Henry Montes, Deborah Saxon, Matteo Fargion, Catherine Bennett Lying in Wait - Idris Khan and Sarah Warsop A Solo in the Doldrums - Anri Sala Woods so Wild - Susan Philipsz Slow Arc Inside a Cube III - Conrad Shawcross Come Into My Sleep - Alex Hartley. The following were curated by Victoria Miro and Siobhan Davies, with the assistance of Judy Adams: Table with Ventilator - Roman Signer Gleaming Lights of the Souls - Yayoi Kusama Narcissus Garden - Yayoi Kusama Untitled - Francis Alys Socle du Monde - Cildo Meireles Notes on Circumstance - Sarah Sze To Trample Down an Arable Land - Victor Alimpiev
- Choreographer: Siobhan Davies, Matthias Sperling, Henry Montes, Deborah Saxon, Matteo Fargion, Catherine Bennett
- Artist: Francis Alys, Catherine Bennett, Siobhan Davies, Matteo Fargion, Alex Hartley, Idris Khan, Yayoi Kusama, Cildo Meireles, Henry Montes, Charlie Morrissey, Susan Philipsz, Anri Sala, Deborah Saxon, Conrad Shawcross, Roman Signer, Matthias Sperling, Sarah Sze, Sarah Warsop
- Artist Comments: Charley Morrissey replaced Henry Montes at the IKON Gallery.
- Contributors: Judy Adam assisted the curating of the artworks chosen for the Collection.
- Analysis: 'Victoria Miro and I were interested to show work in each others' spaces and to enjoy both the connections and disconnections between dance and visual art. Presenting work in different environments creates small instabilities which can help shift patterns of thinking.' (Siobhan Davies).
Over the last few years, Siobhan Davies' dances have moved away from theatre towards a kind of contemplation. Focused on subtle articulations of rhythm and gesture, her works explore what the dancing body can look like, away from the dash and colour and seduction of traditional virtuosity.
Now Davies has taken the logical step of putting her latest piece, Minutes, inside an art gallery. Performed almost continuously at the Victoria Miro, it allows the audience to move around its five dancers as though a live installation, getting as close as politeness permits.
These are fascinating conditions in which to see Davies' choreography, partly because the unfamiliar space throws up so many differing perspectives. Some material appears shockingly dramatic. When you walk up to Henry Montes and Deborah Saxon, bodies twisted and averted in a tight duet, you feel you intrude on a silent but deadly argument. Other material looks close to human sculpture. Matteo Fargion and Catherine Bennett, pacing and gesturing in jerky counterpoint, acquire the comic clockwork tension of a piece by Tinguely. Saxon and Montes, marching the gallery length, become a pure cutting horizontal - a flesh and blood Carl Andre or a Richard Long.
This is surely how Davies wants us to think. For not only does Minutes take place in a gallery, but it also forms part of The Collection, a rich and carefully thought-out exhibition that displays her work in the context of art objects and installations. Only one of these is directly related to dance, Idris Khan's intricate and moving film manipulation of dancer Sara Warsop. But the others throw up a myriad associations with bodies, music and space.
The floating metal balls in Yayoi Kusama's Narcissus Garden become both corps de ballet and orchestra as their jostling water-borne patterns generate a tinkling accompaniment. Gleaming Lights of the Soul by the same artist is simply a small cubicle lit with coloured bulbs, yet its use of reflective surfaces creates the sensation of dancing inside a neon cityscape.
Over the last few years, Siobhan Davies' dances have moved away from theatre towards a kind of contemplation. Focused on subtle articulations of rhythm and gesture, her works explore what the dancing body can look like, away from the dash and colour and seduction of traditional virtuosity.
Now Davies has taken the logical step of putting her latest piece, Minutes, inside an art gallery. Performed almost continuously at the Victoria Miro, it allows the audience to move around its five dancers as though a live installation, getting as close as politeness permits.
These are fascinating conditions in which to see Davies' choreography, partly because the unfamiliar space throws up so many differing perspectives. Some material appears shockingly dramatic. When you walk up to Henry Montes and Deborah Saxon, bodies twisted and averted in a tight duet, you feel you intrude on a silent but deadly argument. Other material looks close to human sculpture. Matteo Fargion and Catherine Bennett, pacing and gesturing in jerky counterpoint, acquire the comic clockwork tension of a piece by Tinguely. Saxon and Montes, marching the gallery length, become a pure cutting horizontal - a flesh and blood Carl Andre or a Richard Long.
This is surely how Davies wants us to think. For not only does Minutes take place in a gallery, but it also forms part of The Collection, a rich and carefully thought-out exhibition that displays her work in the context of art objects and installations. Only one of these is directly related to dance, Idris Khan's intricate and moving film manipulation of dancer Sara Warsop. But the others throw up a myriad associations with bodies, music and space.
The floating metal balls in Yayoi Kusama's Narcissus Garden become both corps de ballet and orchestra as their jostling water-borne patterns generate a tinkling accompaniment. Gleaming Lights of the Soul by the same artist is simply a small cubicle lit with coloured bulbs, yet its use of reflective surfaces creates the sensation of dancing inside a neon cityscape.
A similar infinity rush comes with Conrad Shawcross's Slow Arc Inside a Cube 111 (installed in Davies' dance studio) as a light inside a mesh cage creates hugely magnified shadows. Expanding and contracting, rising and falling, they generate the illusion of spinning and leaping even while you stand still. It is like being both dancer and spectator at the same time.
Judith Mackrell, The Guardian, 2009
- Production Date Original: 2009
- Venue: At the IKON Eastside Gallery, Minutes was performed with Anri Sala's work - A Solo in the Doldrums. Lying in Wait, Idris Khan and Sarah Warsop was seen in an adjacent gallery, The Custard Factory.
- Tour: 23/03/09 - Victoria Miro Gallery & Siobhan Davies Studios, London (private view)
24/03/09 - 09/04/09 - Victoria Miro Gallery & Siobhan Davies Studios, London
22/09/09 - IKON Eastside, Birmingham (private view)
24/09/09 - 04/10/09 - IKON Eastside, Birmingham
