In this stillness, though, I thrive
(work in progress)
Stills by Bence Magyarlaki
'In this stillness, though, I thrive' is a collaboration between video-maker and sculptor Bence Magyarlaki and performance artist Monstera Deliciosa, combining photography, video, performance, sculpture and text.
Drawing on seminal texts from Mario Mieli, Donna Haraway and Paul B. Preciado, the project engages with post and eco-feminist notions such as the commodification and exploitation of nature and wo-man in the economy of colonial, heteronormative patriarchy, the systematic misrepresentation of the relationship between femininity and nature in western culture and the potentiality of gender non-binary, trans and cyborg subjectivities as technobodies of resistance.
Activating a methodology that metonymically embeds notions of time-space compression, deterritorialisation and remote/digital labour, 'In this stillness, though, I thrive' is articulated through different phases, or chapters, where the chosen mediums are intersected and/or isolated to generate and investigate multiple creative processes and outputs dislocated through time and space. The resulting body of work includes a photograph, three videos (shot on the grounds of a cement factory in Trafaria, Lisbon), a sculpture and a live performance, all centred on the linking semiotic of a grey dress.
Thus, each ‘chapter’ of the project, in keeping with notions of re-mediation and repurposing, presents a specific iteration/activation of the dress, problematising the relationship between subject and object, between human and artefact: from the photograph that captures it in a ‘natural’ landscape, the dress is then seen animated in the three videos shot in Trafaria. Currently, the dress is being manipulated into a sculpture with the intention of re-activating it during a live performance that will also incorporate the video materials developed.
To further convey the sense of inter-mediality and of interdependence between each chapter, the artists envisage a multimedia exhibition where all the elements can be presented in relationship with each other, allowing the viewers to walk through each chapter and be immersed in their spatial and temporal inter-connectedness.
For more info about Bence Magyarlaki's work, please visit: www.bencemagyarlaki.com