Arnolfini presents 4 Days. Four consecutive days of live works and installation from Bodies in Flight, Edwin Burdis, Emma Smith, Heather Phillipson, Laure Prouvost, Mette Edvardsen, Mikhail Karikis, Nils Bech, Philipp Gehmacher, Sarah Vanhee, Sharon Gal, Project Boondock and Georgia Sagri. Open Thursday 17–Sunday 20 January 2013.
Introducing a quarterly platform at Arnolfini, 4 Days offers a range of live and performance art encounters featuring artists who favour performance as a meeting point—an opportunity to share and exchange ideas.
Examining the potential performance holds as a means of interaction, immediacy and congregation, 4 Days begins in January 2013 with mixed durational works informed by theatre, movement, music, science, text, moving image, sport, language, current affairs and notions of play.
Emma Smith (UK) – ∆E=W
Developed in collaboration with scientists, sonic architects, tai chi and tantra masters ∆E=W invites participation toward the energetic relation of people, practice and space with practical exercises and interactive experiments on voice, touch, gaze and spatial harmonics.
Georgia Sagri (GR, US) – Owen
Moved by the ideas of Gertrude Stein, Owen perceives viewer and performer to be actor and spectacle at the same time. Sagri invites visitors to assist her in learning by heart a soldier’s speech and offers elements on how to activate the piece again on a different occasion.
Philipp Gehmacher (AT) – Walk & Talk 13
A mesmeric lecture-performance in which Gehmacher meditates on movement whilst moving—suggesting choreography and language as joined-up communication.
Nils Bech (NO) – Look Inside with Eirik Sæther
A performance about a romantic encounter as a catalyst for self-reflection, Bech presents new songs as a story for audiences to follow alongside artwork from Sæther. Also featuring Julian Skar.
Bodies in Flight (UK) – Gymnast
An installation that commences with a performance exploring the athlete’s dedication to achieve physical mastery, featuring a 12-person choir and gymnasts.
Mette Edvardsen (NO, BE) – Black
The space is empty. There are no objects. Edvardsen makes a world more visible, through word and movement mediating between the audience and what is there.
Heather Phillipson (UK) – PRESSURIZATION
Phillipson’s ‘talking pictures’ propose the gallery as both cabin and head, adopting the tropes of nonstop flight—velocity, vistas and body-parts: where are we going?
Sharon Gal (IL, UK) – Gals with Guitars / l’espirit de escalier
Two collaborative workshop/performances—the first reclaiming the guitar for female players highlighting the significance of group and ‘presence.’ The second, inviting participation in search of the ‘spirit of the staircase’ via a collective composition for voices of any ability.
Sarah Vanhee (BE) – 1 -4
Vanhee will speak ahead of one’s thoughts to demonstrate the extent to which language is part social product, part inherited in terms of rhythm and tone.
Laure Prouvost (FR, UK) – Vegetables / Charlie the Dog / Grand Dad
Detailing events that occurred perhaps a few seconds ago, Prouvost explores ideas around translation between audiences and media.
Mikhail Karikis (UK) – The Highflyer
Raising questions about speech and authority in the performance of ‘maleness,’ Karikis explores some of his thematic interests in vocal acts combining sounds, video and props.
Edwin Burdis (UK) – Home
Incorporating a table, a chair and potentially some beers, Burdis presents a work in progress alongside friend and fellow artist Kieron Livingstone.
Project Boondock (UK) – Forum
An open forum to discuss performance, live art and live action—and how best to dissolve traditional barriers between spectator and performer.
Many 4 Days events and performances are free entry. Some are limited capacity and require booking in advance.
A 4 days year pass is also available.
Arnolfini
16 Narrow Quay
Bristol, BS1 4QA, U.K
www.arnolfini.org.uk