a durational movement installation (gallery version or site-specific)
A silent, motionless body stares at the empty gallery wall, a barrier through which there is nowhere to go. At a certain moment, he begins to fall away from her, to retreat, to move away from her, only to suddenly stop in a kind of unfinished pose. However, the barrier subsequently pulls him back, and the silent body dialogue takes place from the beginning. However, the body and the physical barrier in front of it do not fight each other. The process of separation and return takes place on a voluntary basis – the wall and the body are one, which cyclically disintegrates and regroups. A visitor to the gallery enters this situation. What are they exposed to? Can they perceive the body as just another gallery exhibit or does it automatically become the subject of the story for them?
We usually consider the dancing body as the bearer of a certain meaning. Whether consciously or unconsciously, we always try to decipher his gestures, poses, movement links, to look for a story. However, the body exhibited in the Považská galéria umenia in Žilina tries to free itself from any interpretation. He gets rid of his identity, emotions, and his own story. The only thing he is confronted with is the unyielding existence of the barrier in front of him. It refers to her all the time, ignoring any other context or viewer’s point of view. He longs to defy the story. But is it even possible? Does a gesture exist without a reference? Motion in non-motion? Flowing in timelessness?
Choreographer Juraj Korec in collaboration with female performers and art theorist Michaela Hučko Pašteková in the long-term project Expose the body explores the exposure of the living body in a gallery environment through the lens of various (non)choreographic procedures. It brings attention back to the body, but not as a means, the bearer of a theme or function, but to the body as an object of view.
The presentation of the first part of the research took place in June 2023 in Bratislava’s Umelka Gallery and its surroundings and mainly dealt with the parasitism of dancing bodies on everyday life and also how the context affects the interpretation of the performative action. The second part, subtitled Inactivity, took place in July 2023 during the Kiosk festival in the premises of the Považ Art Gallery in Žilina. She asked herself the question of how to install and exhibit a living body in non-motion, without choreographic and theatrical temporality? The movement installation in the Stredoslovenská gallery in Banská Bystrica and SNG Strážky were the final part of the project. At the same time, on 21 June 2024, Juraj Korec will perform in the New Synagogue under the artistic brand Yuri Korec & Co. full-length dance performance STORY, which freely follows the themes of long-term artistic research and develops it into a larger choreographic whole.
Concept and choreography: Juraj Korec and Michaela H. Pašteková
Choreography and performance: Alexandra Mireková, Silvia Sviteková, Lukáš Bobalik/Eli Hooker, Eva Priečková
Production: Martin Krištof / Skrzprst, o.z.
Premiere: Považská galéria umenia v Žiline, 18.6.2024
Supported using public funding by Slovak Arts Council
