Vertigo (the technophenomenological body in performance)

Transcription

1 GOLDSMITHS Research Online Thesis (PhD) Ponton, Anita Vertigo (the technophenomenological body in performance) You may cite this version as: Ponton, Anita, Vertigo (the technophenomenological body in performance). PhD thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London. [Thesis]: Goldsmiths Research Online. Available at: COPYRIGHT This is a thesis accepted for a Higher Degree of the University of London. It is an unpublished document and the copyright is held by the author. All persons consulting this thesis must read and abide by the Copyright Declaration below. COPYRIGHT DECLARATION I recognise that the copyright and other relevant Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of the above-described thesis rests with the author and/or other IPR holders and that no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author. ACCESS A non-exclusive, non-transferable licence is hereby granted to those using or reproducing, in whole or in part, the material for valid purposes, providing the copyright owners are acknowledged using the normal conventions. Where specific permission to use material is required, this is identified and such permission must be sought from the copyright holder or agency cited. REPRODUCTION All material supplied via Goldsmiths Library and Goldsmiths Research Online (GRO) is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, and duplication or sale of all or part of any of the Data Collections is not permitted, except that material may be duplicated by you for your research use or for educational purposes in electronic or print form. You must obtain permission for any other use. Electronic or print copies may not be offered, whether for sale or otherwise to anyone. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. Contact Goldsmiths Research Online at: lib-eprints@gold.ac.uk

2 ANITA PONTON Documentation images of performance works ( )

3 Seen. Unsaid. Live performance with Super 8 film and sound. Caught in the frame, the performer becomes conduit for a stream of other voices as she opens her mouth, their words pour out. Duration 10 minutes.

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8 Dies Irae Live performance with sound. The performer is suspended by her hair and is on tiptoes. In three sequences, she lip-syncs a to digitised voice representing the three ages of woman. Destined to repeat herself over and again, she is like an automaton or puppet but is darkly aggressive and defiant. Duration 15 minutes.

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10 Unspool Live performance with video and sound. Waist deep in unspooled celluloid, the performer responds to her video doppelgangers. An homage to film-noir and insanity. Duration 12 minutes. Nominated for Best Female Performance, Dublin Fringe Festival, 2003

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15 Baggage Live performance with sound. The performer sits onstage in a pool of blue light. Her poise begins to break down as the voice on the soundtrack gently berates her. She trembles and shakes to the point of physical breakdown. Duration 8 minutes.

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22 Say Something Live performance with Super 8 film and sound. Moving only from the waist up, the performer rocks violently side to side. When she stops, a film of her face is projected onto her actual face. The sequence repeats three times. Duration 14 minutes.

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28 Moving Live performance with sound. The performer sits on a chair in a small, dirty space, lit by a single bulb. She is visible through the barred door. The sound of insects and machines fills the space. She seeks eye contact with the audience and at intervals she jerks and spasms as if she is warding something off. Duration 1 hour.

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31 Company (i) Live performance with digital video and sound. In the projection, the body in performance meets and converses with, then recoils and reabsorbs itself. In a dance-like series of moves, the doubled personae seem to take pleasure in their multiplication. Duration 7 minutes.

32 Company (i) Live performance with digital video and sound. In a dance-like series of moves, the performer s body and it s video double, meet. They converse, recoil and finally reabsorb each other. Duration 7 minutes.

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34 Company (ii) Live performance with digital video and sound. An extension of the previous work Company (i), in this performance the performer meets her digital shadows. Isolated in her own melodrama, she has her other selves for company. Duration 13 minutes.

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37 Still Live performance. A durational performance in which the performer holds a series of twelve arrested poses, drawn from iconic images of women in art and cinema. Devised to test the endurance of the artist s body and the credibility of the pose. Each pose held for 10 mins. Total duration approx. 2 hours.

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50 Untitled durational performance For Deranger L Espace, Iles de Madeleine, Canada Live performance as part of group event. Tied to a pole by her waist, the artist slowly unwinds the rope and adopts a series of positions. These positions are held for as long as possible. Over 2 hours she unwinds and holds and the winds back up again. Each position pulls on the rope with the artist resting her entire weight on it. As her body strains against the rope it gets tighter around her waist. The work is concerned with endurance, with public display and with entrapment.

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55 cake Live performance with cake. Dressed as a waitress the performer hands out homemade cakes in a crowded bar. Each cake contains a message on rice paper the subject is gossip, chatter and other parodies of the ways that women s speech has been denigrated. She does not speak with the audience. Duration approx. 1 hour.

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57 Flesh and the Mirror Live performance with sound. She is seated on a glass swing, up high. The space is filled with mirrors and reflective surfaces. She is going through a series of moves to the soundtrack, which is a mix of girls voices and music. She preens and flexes, admiring herself, in complicity with the mirrors that surround her. Duration 20 minutes.

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60 Footfalls Sound installation, Skoki, Poland. On a balcony, at night, loud echoing footsteps are heard. Small candles arranged round the balcony blow out, one by one. The work suggests a sound stuck in time, a presence unable to escape. Duration approx. 1 hour.

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62 thrash Video performance with music (for projection). Frantic and disturbed, a woman shakes herself into an endless frenzy. Ave Maria plays continuously. Looped.

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65 Video performance (Fever) For a monitor, accompanies video performance Skin. The performer is hot and flushed. She is lip-syncing the song Fever, looking straight at the camera. Her nose begins to bleed. Duration 3 minutes (looped).

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67 Video performance (Skin) For a monitor, accompanies video performance Fever. The performer is lip-syncing the song I ve Got You Under my Skin. She looks out to her companion (Fever) on the other monitor. She is scratching furiously throughout. Duration 3 minutes (looped).

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