Drawing Performatively
Tracing Out
Tracing Out
Tracing Out
Energy Lapse
Energy Lapse is a collaborative live drawing performance that reflects on energy sources, such as the fossil fuel of coal, and what meanings this energy has for people, bodies, matter, and environments today, as well as on possibilities of "transformation".
The work adopted an open structure in the style of the Black Market International collective, in which improvisation and chance play a crucial role.
In order to carry out the performance, some parameters were established beforehand, which were: to use industrial coal, to work with the idea of energy and with the aim of transitioning from order and white to disorder and black.
At the beginning of the performance, the artists wore white overalls. Industrial charcoal was scattered around the space, which the artists manipulated with their bodies in a display of energy that lasted about 20 minutes. During this process, the material was moved and broken, so that a "transformation" took place both in the space and through the use of their bodies. The idea was that the artists' bodies and overalls would act as canvases, accumulating the haphazard marks produced by the manipulation of the coal, until they have finally "transform" into and "fuse" with this controversial raw material. Various pieces of coal were also given to the audience, without specifying any task they were to perform with them, thus inciting their active participation in the performance and simultaneously inserting a new element of chance into the work.
The work reflects on the act of drawing, focusing on the human body, but also raises questions about labour, as well as the energy crisis, industry and climate change. It also plays with the idea of transforming identity, community, or becoming. The performance opens up a space of ambiguity; what do we want to become? Cleaner? Dirtier? Purer? Darker? What would the audience decide to do with this freedom to act that is given to them? What is supposed to be done with this energy?