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• I’M THINKING OF YOU

  BY Franko B

  I'm Thinking of You presents a surreal, dreamlike image... a romantic vision of childhood fantasy and abandon. The body is central, but we are also presented with objects and music, which converge to take the viewer through a contemplative, personal experience. The first inspiration for I'm Thinking of You came from a childhood object, which Franko B made into a sculpture, altered for safe use by adults. The idea was to allow adults to play, to forget their problems, to let go, or just to have fun - in the same way that children are allowed to. Over time, and with engagement with the composer, Helen Ottaway, the idea has developed and changed, with Franko using performance and music as a means to create his desired image.
• (A)MARE CONCHIGLIE

  BY Kyrahm and Julia Pietrangeli

  Nettuno (Rome, IT), July 3, 2015. It’s almost the sunset at the beach that used to be the theatre of war during the dramatic landing of Anzio and Nettuno during World War II. A long white table waits in the sea; a rubber boat lands on the shore. The passengers join the banquet: an aged man, two young women and a few African men. They took their seat in front of a small and curious crowd. Each of the guests tells his odyssey. The African refugees share the stories of their long journey to escape from the unbearable living conditions in Nigeria, where they lost their relatives in violent criminal attacks, then to get to Libya, where they experienced the miserable conditions of the war and the underground prison detention. The lovely elder from Sardinia tells about his experience as an immigrant to Germany. He recounts the time when the Italians used to travel in masses after the last war, flooding the train stations with their cardboard luggage; a similar scenario recalling the past century exodus when the Italians used to embark to America. The story of the young woman born from a Sicilian mother and an African father reveals peculiar mixtures between different cultures in an unusual family story torn between dishonour and love. At the end of the feast, everybody takes part in the ritual of the salt thrown in the sea. To remember the sisters and the brothers that couldn’t make it, and to restore the sea in the sea. This performance, documented live, involved elderly Italian migrants and refugees recently arriving in Italy willing to share their stories to the casual audience of the beach.
• EAR ON ARM SUSPENSION

  BY Stelarc

  EAR ON ARM SUSPENSION is a performance where the body is suspended above a 4m long sculpture. 16 hooks were inserted along the back of the torso, arms and legs to equally distribute the body’s weight. As it was winched up, the body assumed its full weight, stretching its skin. Because of the braided steel cable untwisting as it assumed the full weight, it begins to untwist and the body begins to spin, first one way and then the other. What was first imagined as a 5-minute performance ended up being 15 minutes. The performance was about a counterpoint in scale. A whole physical body suspended above a larger fragment of the body - the ear on an arm. The body becomes an object in a sculptural installation. The performance began when the body was hoisted off the sculpture and ended when the body touched down.
The 16 stainless steel hooks were inserted whilst the body lay on the Ear On Arm sculpture.
After the cables were connected the body was winched up approximately 50 cm above the sculpture. The body spun one way and then the other for approximately 15 min. When it stopped spinning, and in the correct orientation, the body was then lowered down.
The installation was left in place for the duration of the exhibition with an edited video and an image authenticating the performance. The event was both a looping back to a previous performance strategy and simultaneously a looking forward to the Ear On Arm project, exposing the physicality of both. The performance occurred on Thursday 8 March as part of the SUSPENSIONS exhibition which was from 7-31 March 2012 at SCOTT LIVESEY GALLERIES. Stelarc: “The suspensions are experiments in bodily sensation, expressed in different spaces and in diverse situations. They are not actions for interpretation, nor require any explanation. They are not meant to generate any meaning. Rather they are sites of indifference and states of erasure. The body is empty, absent of its own agency and obsolete". The Exhibition And Performance Was Dedicated To Nobuo Yamagishi, The Director Of The Maki, Tamura And Komai Galleries In Tokyo When Stelarc Lived In Japan. Yamagishi-San Was Admired Both Personally And Professionally. He Is Greatly Missed.