Tues 11 Feb, 6pm
Cambridge Junction
J1 Theatre
Clifton Way
Cambridge CB1 7GX
Duration 120 mins
This work is a performative exploration lasting a couple of hours, in which the artist duo QUARTO, using a kilometre long rope, challenges the notion of what a body is capable of.
What is a thing, an object? How does it interact with a body, a subject? A rope, for instance, is one thing if we use it to tie something up or hold it together, and something entirely different if we use it as a whip. Thus, the object in itself does not exist, it is merely a function. In a five-hour performance, a 1000-metre rope is manipulated to generate a tension between body and rope through constant motion. The physical exertion, on the verge of the unbearable, gradually peels away our notions of body and object, ego and drama.
Artistic direction, choreography, concept & performance: Leandro Zappala
Choreography, concept & performance: Anna af Sillén de Mesquita
Premiere: Museum of Modern Art of Stockholm
Thanks to Pille Repmakarn
Co-production: Moderna Museet, INKONST, MDT and SITE.
Supported by: The Swedish Arts Council, Stockholm’s Culture Committee and The International Dance Programme – The Swedish Arts Grants Committeé’s International Programme for Dance Artists
QUARTO
The performance-duo QUARTO consists of Anna af Sillén de Mesquita and Leandro Zappala. In between 2003 until now they have created 3 series in 3 parts: WIP, BEAUTY and ROPE, which are not trilogies in a classical sense but rather a long-term research, each piece is autonomous and yet intertwined, creating a sense of coherency.
They invest in a long-term research within interdisciplinary art, deeply rooted in the interaction between theory and practice, together with artists and researchers. Engaged in philosophical questions regarding power relations and the limits of the body, they seek to generate thought and subjectivity through a radical, visual and physical experience.
Anna and Leandro live and work between two different cultures, the Brazilian and the Swedish.