Create, activate and document your own performative sculptures.
Inspired by the new commission from Leap Then Look, this evening class will focus on the body as an ever-changing system among other environmental systems. We will reflect on the interconnectedness between breath and photosynthesis, blood circulation and nutrient cycling, digestion and absorption, and what happens when these systems are functional or faulty.
We will consider how we experience the gallery from the perspective of our own and each other’s movements, to collaboratively create, activate and document our own performative sculptures. Using a range of functional, man-made and natural materials, we will absorb, balance, circulate, and breathe life into our finished artworks, using our own moving bodies. Learn more about the ideas behind the session in the drop-down below.
What To Expect
This class provides an introduction to working with a range of sculptural media and found objects, and using photography to document artwork. There will be a range of collaborative activities, inviting group discussion within a lively, social setting.
There will be opportunities to document the interactive systems created during this evening class. If possible, please bring a phone with a camera, or a digital camera.
We offer a range of facilities to ensure we are accessible to visitors. Please click here to find out more about visiting Modern Art Oxford. If you have any questions about your visit, please get in touch at info@modernartoxforg.org.uk.
Activities can be adapted to be seated or standing, and all activities are suitable for wheelchair users or those using mobility aids. A limited number of bursary places are available for this workshop. Please get in touch for further information.
Movements For Staying Alive celebrates the fundamental movements of life – from the movements that quite literally keep us alive – the flow of blood through our bodies and the flux of our organs and cells – to the interactions and connections that make us feel alive. A principle linking these movements is the idea of the ‘ecological body’, developed by movement artist Sandra Reeve, which describes our bodily experiences as originating from a place of movement as part of a changing environment, rather than a place of individual stasis. The exhibition features three new commissions, including Shaping by Leap Then Look, which emphasises movement as a catalyst for connections and sharing, reflecting how the peripheral movements of others can impact our own experiences.
This evening class draws on Leap Then Look’s encouragement to collaborate and connect, alongside Reeve’s ideas of the ‘ecological body’ to reflect on how we move in relation to each other and the world around us. It is part of a series exploring each of the three new commissions, and creatively responding to the themes of movement as a means to learn, connect, and communicate.