Projekt: Michał Łuczak.
On Thursday, 30 March (7 pm, Studio Słodownia +3, ul. Półwiejska 42), the Old Brewery New Dance in Poznań will host the premiere of Joanna Leśnierowska?s latest work, blur. The piece will be performed by Aleksandra Borys.
About the performance:
Although the principle of ?blur? was introduced into the tradition of European painting as early as da Vinci?s sfumato-technique, it was however only after Gerhard Richter (in whose work the phenomenon of out-of-focus and hazy images took such a dominant role) that the blurred surface became one of central motives in both figurative and abstract paintings as well as photography and post-photography of nowadays. Artists employ the means of blurring intentionally, in different combinations, and following different conceptual and technical strategies. Blurred surfaces, dissolving contours, hazy appearances, indistinct motifs in a state between apparition and dissolution, chaotic accumulation and constant overdose of equally important and unimportant details, dispersed visions and meanings, and aspects of color and composition brought to the fore ? with all this in mind, we entered the stage to examine possibility of ?blurring? in the context of body and choreography.
The research for the solo has been developed with an input by artists of different disciplines. Together, they have searched for translation of ?blur? into all levels of a stage performance. Within the scope of their work, ?blurring? was understood literally ? as something ?out-of shape? or ?unable to keep one shape/form,? but first of all metaphorically ? as a visual and physical representation of an emotional and mental state in which we are being deprived of previously recognized and generally accepted point(s) of reference, and, both on a micro and macro level, constantly exposed to fragmented reality made of data of all sorts: bits and scratches of images, sounds and (post) information sunk in noise and echoes of ideas and ideologies.
?blur? is another chapter of ?Exercises in Looking? ? a practice of perceiving and thinking with images initiated with the trio ??(rooms by the sea)? /2014/. Stemming from my interest in contemporary painting and (post) photography, it?s inspired by its theory and artistic strategies, and examines a possibility of restitution of the gaze in the context of the stage.
Concept/composition: Joanna Leśnierowska
performed by Aleksandra Borys
set & costume design: Michiel Keuper
light: Joanna Leśnierowska (with research input by Jan Maertens)
sound & technical realization: Łukasz Kędzierski
voice coaching: Katarzyna Sitarz
graphic design: Michał Łuczak
production: Joanna Leśnierowska
coproduction: Art Stations Foundation by Grażyna Kulczyk
supported by wpZimmer Antwerp and Visegrad Artist Residency Program for Performing Arts (VARP-PA)
