[extract]
A few weeks ago a deadly virus spread across the world, forcing governments to come up with drastic measures to counter the contagion. At this time, the most effective course of action has had to do with physical distancing between people, but also the warning to not touch any surfaces which other people might have been in contact with. This strict ban on social closeness and physical touch entails a particular sense of isolation, an unprecedented re-invention of how we should all relate to our surroundings. The process of assimilation of this new world – not just because of the current situation but also because of its inevitable consequences – prompted me to think about the importance of touch, especially in the light of its absence due to compulsory restriction.
Photography is key when thinking about absence, especially when it relates to senses other than the visual. Photographic images are intrinsically connected to haptic memories, because they establish such a direct connection with our bodies and sensory impressions of the world. The photographic medium is not only an extension of vision, but also touch and as such is a very powerful tool to examine these senses and their effects on memory and emotions.
I selected a series of works by artists using photography to explore this idea of touch/impossibility of touch, for a type of online exhibition, existing originally only on social media platforms. A secondary effect of the isolation measures taken across the world is a return to web-based spaces for exhibition, communication and creative collaboration. The list of artists is as follows:
Joanna Piotrowska
Sanne Van den Elzen
Emma Bäcklund
Joshua Bilton
Mia Dudek
Tom Lovelace
Jo Longhurst
Victoria Louise Doyle
Alexandre Furcolin Filho
I worked with each of these artists -from our different pre-emptive home isolations- to select and discuss a work of theirs in light of the current ubiquity of physical distance. These past few weeks have made our confined environments a type of laboratory of the body, testing its boundaries and redefining the parameters and of rules of its social interaction.
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On a similar line, the performance What is to be done? part of Jo Longhurst‘s project entitled Other Spaces further develops this particular connection between the body as instrument for expression, and also its relationship with photography. Other Spaces is an investigation of the idea of perfection, and how it one can understand it in light of different systems. For this project Longhurst focused specifically on elite gymnasts: “I’m repeatedly drawn to human systems and structures, interested in attempts to create order from disorder, and the many ways in which we try to make sense of our place in the universe”.
The four images I selected to go with this text belong to three works under the Other Spaces project. The images on the wall belong to Suspension (I) and Momentum (Melting Point), and the intervention is part of a work entitled What is to be done? All four were presented together at the Perth Theatre & Concert Hall in 2018, as part of the European Championships cultural programme.
As with other works in this selection, I am interested in the way photography is part of a more elaborate construction, in this case a dialogue between the actions of the gymnasts, and the images on the wall. I was initially intrigued by the perfected poses of the gymnasts and an idea of touch to do with force, balance and suspension. The images in the background are blow-ups of movement scans (an experiment developed by Longhurst working with the rhythmic gymnasts of the Mangueira Social project in Rio) using a hand-held scanner instead of a camera. The second image, to the left of the scans, shows a gymnast in a state of mid-air suspension.
These three pieces are connected by an interesting line of thought, not just about the body as instrument – and the idea of contact, force, balance and suspension – but also how photography plays a role in the construction of its ‘perfect’ performance. For me there is a contrast between contact and suspension, an original separation between two opposing states. Although it may not be a direct reference to the idea of touch as I initially thought it, this work opens the scope for a new understanding of the human body, shaped and judged through a specific discipline.
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April, 2020