[project development studio] movement
After the last post, I was not quite happy with what I arrived at. It felt like I went running in a big circle only to arrive at the same spot — a spot of confusion.
Then after some cooking and brewing, I had a new realisation. So my initial interests were the relationship between dance and calligraphy. Last night it dawned on me that the common thread between the two is movement.
The readings on dance improvisation helped a lot…i.e. “Thinking is movement” and ” The Moment of Movement : Dance Improvisation” .
I began to think about brush drawing is essentially movement of the hand/brush. In this sense, could we apply the techniques of dance improvisation to brush drawing?
Experiment: “movement painting”
What I am trying to achieve
- being the “author” of the drawings, instead of being the “translator” of dancers’ movement
i.e. not concerned with the “translation” of the dancers’ movement in “Cafe Muller” into drawing. Not even all of my body movements are “registered” by the brush
- using movement of my body as a way of drawing improvisation, i.e. moving my body and hand with my eyes closed
- still influenced by the emotion expressed in the dance piece so that the movement of my body has an “intention” to express that emotion, i.e. I first watch the dance piece without drawing and then I draw while just listening to the music score of the piece
What I discovered
- I am completely in the moment of the movement itself. I breath and live the movement.
I start moving my arms with my eyes closed and just feel how my body feels when I move. This movement is followed by the next movement. I experience the movement as an act in itself. At the same time, my movement respond to the music (or my interpretation of the music)
- I feel completely free.
- I am completely aware of myself and my body
- I am somewhat constrained by having to keep the brush in my hand even though I tried to not care what the brush does or even where it is. I almost wish I could just turn my finger tips into brush tips or just dip my hands in ink and “paint” with my hands. I almost wish I can just move in space and my movements are partially leaving traces somewhere…
Future directions:
1. Can I record my own movements in 3D space and post process this information as brush paintings?
i.e. using technology of the “sound sculpture” piece mentioned in the last post.
another visual reference is this: my inspiration at the very very beginning
2. Other dance improvisation techniques I am interested in exploring in drawing:
contact improvisation
Contact improvisation is a way of communication between the dancers with purely body movement. It is communication without words and beyond words. One dancer comes in contact with another. He/she expresses what he/she wants to do by moving his/her body. The other dancer receives the message and responds with their own body.
When you draw, the pen/brush gets in contact with the material you draw on. You feel a pressure of the surface pushing against your pen/brush. Actually, it is exactly this pressure that makes it possible for the drawing to happen.
Dance is different. Our bodies go through the medium of air usually. It doesn’t leave any traces or marks.
So either, I wonder if there is a way to build a surface that responds to the pressure of the brush while you apply pressure to it, i.e. one area of the surface goes in and downwards to “receive” your push of the brush, and maybe some other part of the surface protrudes upwards. Basically it simulates the experience of
one example of dance movements leaving traces:
side note:
one beautiful quote from ” The Moment of Movement : Dance Improvisation” :
“human beings have an innate drive to give form to experience.”