Woodlane Campus, Falmouth, Cornwall
7th-11th September, 10am-5pm
The exhibition displays documentation of the live art event, Art Hub. It experiments with different ways of recording performance art, and examines the legacies that are formed.
The live event featured a programme of performances which explored intimacy in contemporary culture, reacting to the impact of online technologies on human relations. It took place at The Poly on the evening of Saturday 21st August, with an afternoon performance on Falmouth Moor on the same day. The featured artists were Bryony Gillard, Hedva Eltanani, Kathryn Ashill, Kimbal Bumstead, Susan Mortimer and Zierle & Carter. These artists investigated the dynamics of interaction through collaboration, exchange and touch, occurring in both physical and virtual space.
The selection of artists has enabled a range of documentation techniques to be investigated, such as archival objects, photography and video. For several of the artists documents, products or traces are significant in their work. Kimbal Bumstead has stated, ‘I am interested in using physical materials and documentation processes as a way of exploring physical interaction. Both process and product are equally important.’ The displayed objects communicate the narratives of past actions. Many are valuable as traces of the processes which altered, involved or made them, and others were produced after the performance as illustrations of the work. The photographs present framed moments which construct specific interpretations. The video and audio recordings offer multisensory representations, but at the same time are still selective. These various mediums collaborate to achieve dynamic and considered depictions, forming new arrangements and interpretations of the performances. In contemporary live art practice the ephemeral nature of the discipline often challenges the concept of ‘permanent’ documentation; however it is important to develop a history of the discipline for critique and future practice.
