In 2019 Decay into Stone was an idea to create an atmospheric, meditative and durational performance installation. The ideas for which evolved from an exploration of the connections between archaeology, art and the body. (The performance was due to take place in Aprill 2020 at Tou Scene, Stavanger, Norway but was cancelled due to the pandemic.)
The work looked at the role and participation of the dead body in the Neolithic era. The decay of the material body is absorbed by the stones of the burial chamber. The stones are ‘skinned’ in the body’s decay and the whole chamber is thought of as a living thing, as the stones become the person whose body has decayed upon its surface, and the person likewise becomes stone. This idea and process reminded me of how live artists, dancers and musicians, ‘decay’ into one another; a dance, a sound, an object, given from one and absorbed by the other, transforming each other and continuing to flow and grow with each other. The body acts as the material surface - a canvas, a mould - from which a new ‘skin’ is created using paint, wax, plaster, paper. This, in turn, becomes a new corporeal form to respond to, re-shape and transform. (Below is a selection of objects made for the performance)
The work looked at the role and participation of the dead body in the Neolithic era. The decay of the material body is absorbed by the stones of the burial chamber. The stones are ‘skinned’ in the body’s decay and the whole chamber is thought of as a living thing, as the stones become the person whose body has decayed upon its surface, and the person likewise becomes stone. This idea and process reminded me of how live artists, dancers and musicians, ‘decay’ into one another; a dance, a sound, an object, given from one and absorbed by the other, transforming each other and continuing to flow and grow with each other. The body acts as the material surface - a canvas, a mould - from which a new ‘skin’ is created using paint, wax, plaster, paper. This, in turn, becomes a new corporeal form to respond to, re-shape and transform. (Below is a selection of objects made for the performance)
Materials: latex, wood, wax, pigment.
Object Size :10cmx50cm
Materials: latex, wood, wax, pigment, nylon.
Size: 5cmx50cm
