Dynamic values... an effective use of peripheral space

                                                           
2019
group exhibition ‘Connecting in the grey zone’ at BLINDSIDE;
           ‘Connecting in the grey zone’ was curated by Anador Walsh, mentored by Mark Feary, as a part of the emerging curators program at BLINDSIDE 2019.

‘dynamic values, an effective use of peripheral space’, 2019, centres around the transference of memory, from one body, Isabella Hone-Saunders’ to another, Jesse Gall, using choreography as the medium of doing so. Presented on a custom mdf screen, attached to a chromed steel structure and bordered by braided, flesh toned, satin ribbon, dynamic values, an effective use of peripheral space, 2019, is a single channel video that offers an intimate insight into this transference.

Through the act of teaching Gall the choreographic steps ingrained in their muscle memory from years of ballet training and examinations, Hone- Saunders is able to transcend the oppressive rigidity and the trauma inherent of ballet education, to regain a sense of freedom and joy in dance.
The soundtrack to Isabella Hone-Saunders, dynamic values, an effective use of peripheral space, 2019, instantly alerts you to the balletic nature of this work. The music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Pas de Deux ‘The Nutcracker’, Antonio Vivaldi – Cantate Cessate, Mai Cessate – Ah h’infelice sempre and Mac Quale – Adagio in G Minor swells in BLINDSIDE’s gallery two, their luxurious, virtuosic waves, lapping into gallery one, drawing you from one spac to the next.

To the right of this structure, dynamic values, an effective use of peripheral space, 2019, is also composed of a monitor, mounted on a grab rail, showing documentation footage of number six performs Gallop, Jesse Gall’s live performance at Connecting in the grey zone’s opening.

In ‘number six performs Gallop’, Gall wears a homemade t-shirt with a spray-painted number on the front and a hand drawn version of the Royal Academy of Dance coat of arms on the back, in homage to the homogeneity of the ballet exam process.

Gall’s performance was loose and fun, and indicative of a clear breakaway from the onerous structures of ballet education. The inclusion of this performance documentation in dynamic values, an effective use of peripheral space, 2019, brings full circle the dialogical exchange between these two people and bodies. - Anador Walsh

[Connecting in the grey zone contends that the dance exhibition and emergent digital technologies are both ‘grey zones’, in that they are characterised by an absence of regulation and an indeterminacy of form. By situating itself in the gallery, the place where these two ‘grey zones’ converge and become ubiquitous, this project poses questions concerning the symbiotic relationship between these zones, the role of the body and the audience in this context, and the part that social media plays in the current popularity of dance in the gallery and performance art more broadly.]



Click image above to watch the video work in full.

single channel video, 7 mins 51 seconds.
mdf sheet, chromed steel, satin ribbon, Royal Academy of Dance Logo, grab rail, documentation of ‘number six performs Gallop’ live performance audio: P. Tchaikovsky – Pas de Deux ‘The Nutcracker’. Antonio Vivaldi – Cantate Cessate, Mai Cessate – Ah, h’infelice sempre. Mac Quayle – Adagio in G Minor.



Read the full exhibition publication here.
incl. writing by: Anador Walsh, Lizzie Thomson, Eugene Yiu Nam Cheung, Brooke Stamp + Mark Feary.

Connecting in the grey zone artists: Ivey Wawn Ichikawa Edward, Jesse Gall + Rebecca Jensen + Arini Byng, Eugene Choi, Angela Goh.