Residencies

• 13.11 > 25.11.2023

Textural Tragedy ties together the Gothic novel, hea­vy metal/​scream sin­ging, ​‘char­ge’ and lace, cre­a­ting a sty­lis­tic knot. My inte­rest is the con­struc­ti­on of style/​aesthetics as a soci­al motor. This work is a col­li­si­on of influ­en­ces which, at once, cri­ti­que, inspi­re, and unsettle. 

This is why I descri­be Textural Tragedy as a ​‘knot’ whe­re various things are wor­ked together to form a gre­a­ter Gestalt.

My inte­rest in the Gothic novel deri­ves from its poten­cy to hor­ri­fy, whilst trig­ge­ring new sen­ses of rea­li­ty through the fantastic/​supernatural. Mehtonen and Sjöberg posit that the 18th/​19th cen­tu­ry Gothic novels direct­ly reac­ted against the move­ments of rea­lism, natu­ra­lism and impres­si­o­nism. Opposed to tho­se lat­ter move­ments the Gothic novel took an anti-mecha­nis­tic/an­ti-rati­o­nal per­cep­ti­on of rea­li­ty. The dra­ma­tur­gy of this work is inspi­red by the­se charac­te­ris­tics. Through the figurative/​scenic we dis­turb and per­vert standard figu­res inte­gral to Western cul­tu­re (Mother, Daughter, Dog, Freedom, Nature), and through the abstract/​experiential we inci­te expe­rien­ces of wonder/​vivacity.

Heavy Metal cen­tra­li­zes qua­li­ties such as metal, hea­vi­ness, and for­ce, cre­a­ting an adver­se sound. Its aes­the­tic valu­es were dis­tinct­ly oppo­sed to the opti­mis­tic hip­pies move­ment, coun­te­ring ideals of natu­re, pea­ce­ful­ness, and puri­ty. We use com­po­sed sound inter­ven­ti­ons and live scream sin­ging-inspi­red cho­ral com­po­si­ti­ons to con­struct wonderous/​alienating sonic experiences.

Large-sca­le abstract lace works hang in the spa­ce as sce­no­grap­hy. These Gothic chan­de­liers at times pro­du­ce a poe­tics of pla­ce and at other times cast sha­dows trans­for­ming the sta­ge into a moving tex­tu­re. Flemish bob­bin lace was an opu­lent tex­ti­le only affor­ded by the weal­thy. Contrastingly, it was often made under for­ced labor con­di­ti­ons in nun­ne­ries and orp­ha­na­ges for girls. Its pat­tern is defi­ned by the spa­ces bet­ween threads. Our work on lace will be made in col­la­bo­ra­ti­on with the tex­ti­le muse­um TEXTURE in Kortrijk.

We work with the idea of ​‘char­ge’, whe­re move­ment and expres­si­vi­ty are cho­re­o­grap­hed as one. Charge cre­a­tes over­ex­pres­sed, extra­va­gant and obsce­ne bodies, in oppo­si­ti­on to the so-cal­l­ed ​‘neu­tral body/​performativity’ enfor­ced during the post­mo­dern peri­od. Expressivity is cho­re­o­grap­hed as mate­ri­al that cir­cu­la­tes bet­ween audien­ces and performers.