portal for creative expression
Today I am preparing for the arrival of a friend and colleague who is a prominent performance artist and curator from New York, Hector Canonge, who is arriving in Venice to perform a piece created especially for my off-site project titled SOMAGRAPHIKA
The Conservatorio di Musica has an outdoor courtyard that is perfect for contemporary art performances. This year contemporary classical music fills the outside and inside spaces. It is an exhibition that presents work by nine contemporary Iranian artists. The artists were selected for the affinity with openness, respect and human interconnectedness that is evinced in their work and this theme is in line with the zeitgeist running through the Biennale this year.
Both Maira and Miu are dancers who run Dance to the People, similar to the Yoga to the People, where they offer donation-based dance classes. Each class is run by a different dance teacher so you can learn different styles. I took a Ballroom Vogue class with them a few weeks ago and absolutely loved it.
Working on a project with a classically trained professional dancer pushes me to work out more and get back into my pre-pregnancy form. Her boundless energy and fun-loving energetic personality make the collaboration even more rewarding. Most importantly we are both moms so when our kids play together we get to plan our performances.
I have been asking: What is failure? How does failure relate to imperfection? We often think of failure as the opposite of success, however, in many ways, failure can be associated with eliminating expectation or a state of not ‘consciously’ aiming for pure perfection.
At the moment Laura has a solo project called NEU MA that researches the body as an instrument and the breath as control. She says, ‘The main interest of this research is to connect the physical manifestations to new technologies, transforming the performer into a complex interactive tool.”
Anita and I made plans to create a book with the drawings using handcrafted book-binding methods. Today we work to complete this book. She shows me a bookbinding book which explains how to bind with bird feathers and other such things.
First, she creates an armour over her red overalls by peeling layer upon layer of two blocks of unbaked raw clay with a string of dental floss. Her face is covered entirely, her body enduring the process, her hands searching and shaking slightly.