Isolation in a Series of Liminal States
installation, 3h, 2021
Isolation in a Series of Liminal States
installation, 3h, 2021
description
Isolation in a Series of Liminal States proposes a performative, visual, and architectural approach that connects fragments of the complex history of Malmaison with the current situation of an isolated body, as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The work looks at isolation from a historical perspective while aiming to contextualize this phenomenon as one deeply rooted in the social and political life of a community. In a crisis of redefining its relationship with society, historical heritage, and uncertain predictions about the future, the performative body proposed by the artists is ritualistic and transitory, in an unstable oscillation between what was and what could be.
Following historical, anthropological, and architectural research, the performative installation starts from the memoirs of political prisoners who were imprisoned at Malmaison—a former transitional prison in the Romanian communist era, now partially occupied by artists under the name of Atelierele Malmaison (Malmaison Workshops). Zapping through Malmaison’s history and its transformation process, the installation explores different perspectives of being isolated, influenced by the building’s multiple functionalities: a former military garrison, court-martial, prison for political dissidents and intellectuals, research institute, film set, an underground party venue, and working space for artists.
The memory of the space, transposed into pulsating movement scores, is constantly renewed by assuming foreign identities, which merge with the exchange of information between performers and the public.
CONCEPT
Isolation is detachment, individualization, separation, singularization, loneliness, closure, siege, decomposition, fractionation, splitting, fencing, cloistering, dungeon, seclusion, alienation, quarantine. The body in isolation is a liminal body, whose memory becomes uncertain—a dynamic body, dialectical and in perpetual transformation. Space becomes body; the body becomes time and vibration.
Starting from images, interviews, chronicles, and testimonies of the bodies that passed through Malmaison, the performative installation explores the phenomenon of body reconstruction—of reassembly into a new identity.
Sometimes emotional, sometimes cynical and ironic, often pragmatic and direct, the installation is a potential (dis)functional organism. The collective work steals the kinesthetic material of the body’s experience in isolation and recalibrates it in a space that intentionally loses its ceremonial character, becoming an accessible resource. In Isolation in a series of liminal states, several temporalities overlap; familiar bodily states are recontextualized historically, leaving room for fantasies about the future.
Upon entering the exhibition space, the visitors receive an object that attaches to their bodies. Each object contains text and a graphic sign. These are fragments of information that underlie the traces of the people who have temporarily inhabited the building. Performers are hosts at the same time, inviting visitors to connect objects to the panel placed at the exit of the installation. The panels composed by visitors every night remain in the exhibition space after the performative interventions, recomposing and rearranging the information in another chronology, which entails a new narrative.
The two female performers work with seemingly invisible connections, but without which the human organism could not function. BLOT examines human existence through the lenses of dependence and control, focusing on the fine line between what is beneficial and what is toxic. Our bodies carry unique microbial fingerprints that help define our identities. Our social choreography is often disrupted by an imbalance between the inner and outer worlds, which we continuously disturb.
CREDITS
concept and performance design Simona Deaconescu
curatorial concept and producing Alex Radu
space and object design Justin Baroncea, Maria Ghement
drawings by Ramon Sadîc
music by Vlaicu Golcea
historical research Mihai Burcea
anthropological research Bogdan Iancu
performers Andrei Bouariu, Georgeta Corca, Ioana Marchidan, Maria Luiza Dimulescu, Simona Dabija
project coordinator Laura Trocan
promotion and communication Simona Rădoi, Anca Macoviciuc, Simona Abagiu
video documentation Cătălin Rugină
photo documentation Dan Vezentan, Alina Ușurelu
co-produced by Tangaj Collective Association and / SAC @ MALMAISON (Aiurart Association) co-financed by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund.
co-financed by the Bucharest City Hall through ARCUB within the Bucharest – Open City 2021 Program
the project does not necessarily represent the position of the National Cultural Fund Administration. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the project results may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the beneficiary of the funding. For detailed information about the Bucharest City Hall financing program through ARCUB, you can access www.arcub.ro. The content of this material does not necessarily represent the official position of the Bucharest City Hall or ARCUB.
media partners: CULTARTES, METROPOTAM, SPOTMEDIA, TANĂNANA, RADIO ROMANIA CULTURAL
/ SAC @ MALMAISON was made possible with the support of URSA ROMANIA and POLICOLOR ROMANIA
Rhythm — the slowness of time in solitude, impressed on each gesture — defines this performative installation, where bodily fluidity pulses through the audience. The seemingly fragile presence of performers is haunting.
IULIA POPOVICI, THE CULTURAL OBSERVER
The space becomes an active part of the creative process in this site-specific performance. The performers’ movements suggest the presence of lives from the past, as if crossing paths with them in another time. It’s an immersive experience where each viewer decides how closely they want to connect with the past.
OANA CRISTEA GRIGORESCU, LITERNET