Specificity of Circumstances

Specificity of Circumstances is a project conceived by Soi3 (collaborative duo formed by Irina Baldini and Masako Matsushita in 2009) for an Artist Residency at Residency Unlimited headquarters in Brooklyn, NY (2nd July – 2nd September 2012).

It is derived from fragments documented during a year’s time (allowed by a Residency at Southbank Centre, which encouragingly supported the research and provided space and time in which to invest towards a development of previous performances) that will be the bases of this project.

Circumstances/space:

When there is a performance in a gallery space, audiences seem not to expect a proximity with the performer that in traditional theatre settings is defined and unbreakable.

This proximity makes the performance so fragile that anything could interrupt or almost has the right to disrupt. How does the performer/viewer relationship change according to the type of space the performance happens?

The fact that the distance breaks automatically a sense of role implies that there is no hiding from either of the two sides and the communication is more of an exchange.

Soi3 finds this much more nourishing than the ‘delivery’ of a performance to an audience which is often not visible.

An often complex or diverse spaces challenges a performer to be aware of what is happening around him and what does this particular space need in that very moment in time. Therefore performance can influence how a visitor perceives the space he enters. There is a component of listening to the space -its volume, its pace, its effort- which activates it and choreographs its energy. What also happens is that a performer becomes capable of showing the viewer what is not being performed, what is just ‘being’ and the ‘in betweens’. By allowing the performer to be visible simply as one is eases the pressure and the preciousness of the work, perhaps making it more accessible. The work changes with the ‘worker’. These all are ideal conditions by which to work at RU for the duration of the residency Soi3 is going to be hosted for.

Can movement make people aware of what their bodies are doing in relation to the space they are in and to other people in this space?

Link:  http://soi3.tumblr.com/

supported by LUTSF and Southbank Centre