The new digital installation Come and Go was launched at The Lowry; Salford Quays: 16th January 2016.
This dual screen, interactive artwork takes Edison’s 1920’s films of the Butterfly Dance as its reference, with the dance phrases filmed from above and on high speed camera (slow motion). The dance phrases are choreographed by Alexander Whitley and the interpretation references drone technology, states of limbo, control and resistance.
The dancer shapes, animates and makes airborne a length of white silk as she moves within the frame. The marks, scribes and scuffs on the floor alongside the shapes and creases of the material point towards classical paintings. Each screen depicts a similar dance phrase, one plays forwards and one backwards, only occasionally does this become apparent. There are moments of synchronicity and times when the subject's temporal coordinates are lost. This in addition to the 'bird's eye' camera angle creates a non human-centered focus. The choreographic interpretation takes influence from flight, drones, states of limbo and invisibility.
Come and Go Documentation at The Studio; The Lowry; Salford Quays from Rose Butler on Vimeo.
As viewers cross the space the playback ramps to shift the movement from slow motion to real time. The six-minute slow motion sequence contracts to a twenty second dance and the audio samples increase in number and intensity. The image changes from one of ethereal, sublime qualities to one of urgency and transition. A dance between the viewer and the image evolves and generates a play of move and counter move. The occasional temporal relationship with the present makes the slow motion playback seem otherworldly and removed and creates a feeling of disorientation.
The work is underpinned by research into surveillance and resistance which considers disembodiment and non spaces as a site of action or control.
Further information about the work can be found here.
Dual screen mock up:
Come and Go from Rose Butler on Vimeo.
Below is a short single screen extract of one of the dance phrases performed by Natalie Allen. This work was made with the support and mentoring of Laura Broome; Quays Culture: Salford Quays. It will be installed on FACT's interactive TILO screen in Liverpool later this year.
Work in Progress from Rose Butler on Vimeo.
