Tony Orrico, Penwald: 4: unison symmetry standing (Dance Theater Workshop, New York, NY) 2010. Photo: Michael Hart.
The exhibitionForEach Gesture Another Character[Dla każdego gestu inny aktor] (17 January – 4 May 2014) will open the 10th year of the Art Stations Foundation by Grażyna Kulczyk, bringing together for the first time in the foundation’s history its two leading programmes – art exhibition and performance art. Among the performance artists to be featured are: Aleksandra Borys, Magdalena Ptasznik, Rodrigo Sobarzo de Larraechea, Anna Steller, Jeremy Wade and – already in January –Tony Orrico.
Tony Orrico and the physical symmetry practice
Tony Orrico, a former soloist of Trisha Brown’s dance company, just like the legendary choreographer, creates drawings using his own body as a tool. His three-day performance Penawld:4: Symmetry Standing(14-16 Jan, Art Stations gallery) will precede the opening of the exhibition. Orrico will also give lecture on his self-devised physical symmetry practice (18 Jan, 5 pm, Studio Słodownia +3), which is the method which he uses to create Penwald Drawings– a series of bilateral drawings (made with both hands simultaneously) exploring the artist’s body as a tool of measurement and allowing him to be inscribed in the sphere of geometry. Choreography of his gestures stays within the sphere of the outstretched arms of the artist who is immersed in the meditative, repetitive practice following the inner impulses which in this way manifest into a visible, physical form. The audience will also have a chance to observe the process during a 1.5h performance in which Tony Orrico will “take his wrists for a walk”, creating before their eyes another piece of the Penwald Drawingsseries(25 Jan, 4 pm, Art Stations gallery).
Artistic residencies and performances at a gallery
While exploring the relationship between drawing and movement, the exhibition space will also serve as a stage for three young Polish choreographers – Aleksandra Borys, Magdalena Ptasznik and Anna Steller, who are taking part in artistic residencies in conjunction with the exhibition. Each of the three artists is going to stage a temporary intervention at the gallery, making a reference to the works on display and their common motifs: meandering lines, fleeting gestures and lasting signs. Each of the three residencies will end with a public performance whose departure point, in line with the exhibition’s idea, will be the understandings of drawing as a physical, if ephemeral, trace of movement in space. This way the artists will be able to look at the drawing gesture in a broader perspective and in the context of choreographic tradition and practice.
Drawing on stage
Apart from performances held at the gallery, the exhibition will also feature presentations from choreographers who have translated their fascination with the act of drawing into the language of dance and transferred it directly on stage. American choreographer Jeremy Wadewill give a lecture performance at Studio Słodownia +3, talking about his choreographic practice. The artist will also discuss his collaboration with visual artist Monika Grzymała, which resulted in the work dark material (2013), based on the juxtaposition of dancers’ physical actions and Grzymała’s ad hoc “drawings in space”.
The exhibition’s performance programme will conclude with a guest performance from choreographer Rodrigo Sobarzo de Larraechea. The Amsterdam-based artist of Chilean origins will present Harvest, a piece focusing in its visual sphere on the line. The space, continuously slashed by lines, undergoes constant transformations, determining the actions of two performers. Sketched with the choreographer’s gesture, the landscape – both tangible and poetic at the same time, woven of visual metaphor – is being “sown” by the artist incessantly throughout the one-hour performance, allowing the audience to experience space as a network of lines, some of which are hardly noticeable or even beyond our perception in everyday life.
More information about the exhibition and other events held in conjunction with it:www.artstationsfoundation5050.com
Performance art events as part of the exhibition ForEach Gesture Another Character
14-15 January, 12 o’clock – 4 pm and 16 January, 10 am – 2 pm, Art Stations gallery
Tony Orrico
Penwald: 4: Unison Symmetry Standing
Creative process open to the public
admission free
18 January 2014, 5 pm
Tony Orrico’s lecture:Physical Symmetry Practice
25 January 2014, 5-6.30 pm
Tony Orrico
Penwald: 5: wrists on walk
15 February 2014, 5 pm, Art Stations gallery
Magdalena Ptasznik
15 March 2014, 5 pm, Art Stations gallery
Aleksandra Borys
15 March 2014, 7 pm, Studio Słodownia +3
Rodrigo Sobarzo de Larraechea
Harvest
26 April 2014, 5 pm, Art Stations gallery
Anna Steller
26 kwietnia 2014 godz. 19:00, Studio Słodownia +3
Jeremy Wade
The suggestion of a line and the solid object, a lecture performance
