Come and Go was prototyped at The Lowry; Salford Quays: 16th January 2016 and was then developed for the exhibition Everything Flows at the Millennium Galleries; Sheffield, June - August 2017.
Review of Everything Flows curated by Jeanine Griffin in Art Monthly: July 2017.
This two channel interactive video work, is a contemporary rework of the early 20th century film of the Serpentine Dance, with the dance phrases filmed from above and on high speed camera (slow motion). The dance phrases, choreographed by Alexander Whitley, takes influence from flight and drone technology and states of limbo.
The dancer shapes, animates and makes airborne a length of white silk as she moves within the frame. The marks, scribes and scuffs on the floor alongside the shapes and creases of the material point towards classical paintings. Each screen depicts a similar dance phrase, one plays forwards and one backwards, only occasionally does this become apparent. There are moments of synchronicity and times when the subject's temporal coordinates are lost. This in addition to the 'bird's eye' camera angle creates a non human-centered focus.
Come and Go Documentation 2017 from Rose Butler on Vimeo.
As viewers enter the space, the playback ramps to shift the movement from slow motion to real time. The six-minute slow motion sequence contracts to a twenty second dance and the audio samples increase in number and intensity. The image changes from one of ethereal, sublime qualities to one of urgency and transition.
Depending on your positioning in the space the playback will: speed up, decrease in speed, stop, reverse playback.
A dance between the viewer and the image evolves and generates a play of move and counter move, pivoting between control and resistance and the thresholds of visibility and invisibility. The occasional temporal relationship with the present makes the slow motion playback seem otherworldly and removed and creates a feeling of disorientation.
Further information about the development of the work can be found here.
Dual screen mock up:
Come and Go from Rose Butler on Vimeo.
Below is a short single screen extract of one of the dance phrases performed by Natalie Allen. This work was made with the support and mentoring of Laura Broome; Quays Culture: Salford Quays.
Work in Progress from Rose Butler on Vimeo.
