[-empyre-] Virtual Embodiment / whose "our systems"

[Sue Hawksley]

Dear Johannes, dear all.


On 31 Jul 2014, at 07:12, Johannes Birringer <Johannes.Birringer at brunel.ac.uk> wrote:
> you may recall that Sue Hawksley mentioned her work on physical practices, her choreographic explorations with dancer Freya Jeffs, and she also mentioned that a filmmaker was involved, Roddy Simpson, but Roddy's impact is not discussed.
> 
Roddy's contribution is only briefly addressed in this short article, which was angled to meet the focii of the Peripatetic Studio blog <http://theperipateticstudio.wordpress.com>  (which might be of interest to other empyreans? - it is "dedicated to the spaces we work in and how they impact on the creative work we produce. It’s a blog about place, process and product. It’s an archive of personal experience, discussion and debate. The posts are personal accounts written by creative practitioners from a variety of different disciplines. TPS is curated by two.5, a collaboration between writer and researcher Viccy Adams and photographic media artist Samantha Silver").

I chose to share this article because I though people might be interested in the shaping of ideas of and by the spaces, including how Roddy's filming and editing create a 'window' "through which we view the subtle presence of places that inhabit the dancer’s presence as she reinhabits them. For me, it is very significant that Roddy chose to situate the figure in the film on a plain black background, extracting her from any specific place and time. In Traces of Places we seek to bring to attention and evoke the embodied presence of place. Perhaps in some ways, the kinaesthetic patterns of the there-and-then reveal the presence of ghost gestures that haunt the here-and-now, wherever that may be". There are some cross-overs to Moments in Place. Of course, in the bodily practices and the devising of the film, we seek to bring to attention and evoke presence, place etc., but I'd never claim to know what is found, nor presume to know what the other will see or feel, as per John Hopkins' meditation on "hypostasis". I would like to share two little pieces of feedback from participants in the R & D for another dancework I made, which was to be received by touch. One said "It’s really strange! You did something like this, and I felt, I thought, I’m Sue!, I’m actually Sue!”,  while another said "I just felt some strokes, just meaningless strokes". Of course these are sound-bites, extracted from their extended comments , but to me they hint at the "the interstitial chasm" John described.

all the best, Sue


SUE HAWKSLEY
independent dance artist
sue at articulateanimal.org.uk
http://www.articulateanimal.org.uk