Object Scores
New media sound artist Kirsty stansfield (www rufa.net) invited Colette Sadler to work with her on a residency based at the Southern General hospital in Glasgow working with elderly ladies living under continual care. Kirsty Stansfield wanted to investigate the relation between the interactive sound objects she had been developing and the ‘embodied knowledge’ of the elderly people. The sound objects prompted conversations about listening and a physical exploration of interpretative movement. Working with this ‘embodied knowledge’ through choreography involved devising verbal and physical movement instructions. The use of interactive objects within the process of the gesture research centered around an intuitive listening game , each object suggesting different movement and sound possibilities depending on its design and encoding. The game worked on the premise of how, where and by whom the objects were positioned and how this affected sound. Experimenting with different ways of gesture making supported by Laban choreology theory and thinking through the embodied knowledge of these women points to further work on the role and effect of weak movement concepts within the design processes of these objects.
The exhibition ‘Object Scores’ is a platform for presenting further reflections on this experience and opens March 2nd-April 1st in TRAMWAY project room.
Credits:
Concept:
Kirsty Stansfield
Performance | choreography:
Colette Sadler
Supporters:
Art in hospitals, Scottish Arts Council, Speckled computing research consortium, University of Edinburgh and the school of media and imaging Duncan and Jordanstone College of art and design Dundee.
Behind Speech
Behind Speech is the result of two day-long workshops undertaken by two actresses, a choreographer and an artist. Together they explored aspects of non-verbal communication using Breaking Bad News, one of the role plays commonly used for training student doctors in the Communication Suites. These role play exercises are intended to give the students an authentic experience in dealing with patients. Behind Speech explores how we can construct authenticity, drawing attention to the points where reality and simulation merge and diverge. Rather than producing a live performance event, the objective was to continue the construction process through the production of non-verbal performances devised and edited for video.
Sessions with the choreographer explored how conscious attention to the psychological motivation behind gesture could be used alongside the actresses own methods to help them reach a form of authentic experience. The process of debriefing and reflection commonly used in the Medical School was used within the sessions to reflect on these experiences as they unfolded over the two days. In bringing these elements together, Behind Speech explores the authentic experience of the actresses over this intense short period highlighting the performative relationship of all dialogues, both artificial and real.
Credits:
Concept: Kirsty Stansfield
Choreographer: Colette Sadler
Actresses: Karen Traynor and Pene Herman-Smith
Thank you to Simon Yuill, Christine Borland, Sam Cameron and The School of Media Arts & Imaging, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art.
Behind speech was presented as part of Communication Suite at The Wolfson Medical Building, Level 4, Glasgow University, University Avenue, Glasgow G12 8QQ
8th July – 1 Aug 2008
Communication Suite is a new exhibition of commissioned and existing works specifically selected for the Medical School of Glasgow University curated by visual artist Christine Borland
Event for Audience
Popmusicians Belle and Sebastian asked Colette Sadler to create an eventas part of Triptych music festival 06 that would offer the experience ofdanceperformance to a pop music audience that may have had nopriorexperience or exposure to it . The event offeredparticipants fromthe Triptych audience the opportunity to becomeperformers for the daybased around a workshop that developed a seriesof group performancetasks into a public presentation. The performancewas presented withinthe day long event of band acts headed by Belle andSebastian , DJs and video screenings by Saint Etienne.
Triptych Tramway Sunday 30th April 2005
Credits:
Choreographer: Colette Sadler
Musiciens: Belle et Sebastien