/ SPACE/PERFORMER? / / / /
PING YAN (AMY) S3270131
SPACE/PERFORMER? An investigation into the inter-relationship between human body movements and the spaces in their visual circumstances
RESEARCH BOOK 2013 RMIT INTERIOR DESIGN YEAR FOUR
SPACE/ PERFORMER? An investigation into the inter-relationship between human body movements and the spaces in their visual circumstances
Table Of Contents 001 004 008
/// Self-reflection /// Introduction /// A Body of Works
1st Movement, an Allegro
The Activated Space
An Observation An Extension A Mimic 2nd Movement, an Adagio The Bodied Space An Act A Question 3rd Movement, a Scherzo The Poetic Possibility in Space A documentation An introduction 4th Movement, a Rondo
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010
020
020
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044
044
/// A Rewind
066
069 070 071
The Opening up of Space
A Pause An Opposition A Response The Shifting of Sites The Time Aspect The Pictorial Aspect
/// Appendix of works /// Diagrams /// Conclusion /// Endnotes /// Bibliography /// Reference
076 082 091 093 094 095
Self-reflection Performance has always been my passion. I am fascinated by its identity of performers and audience co-existing together; its unique existence in time; its drifting-away from reality. As a student, interior design for me is a subject continuously exploring the relationship between human bodies and their surroundings. Accordingly, my practices mostly focus on the interchange of subject and object of such performances, altering the props and stage, the inter-relationship of human bodies, body movements and the space, which collectively are the performers, the performance, and the stage.
//
“Space is a Choreographor�
A project looking into the tranformation from a room to a stage 2013
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Introduction “SPACE” In performance, space cannot be disconnected with body movements. And the spaces where performances happen are no longer fixed to theatres but can be all kinds of locations, no matter they are domestic or urban, interior or exterior. The research book looked into a various of arenas varies from enclosed staircase to grass field, exploring the potentialities and the possibilities of the space with human occupation. “PERFORMER” The notion of performer here is interchangeable between me, whose body was involved in most of the projects, and the space around me, which was mostly understood by its framed and recorded form by camera or video-camera. “?” How is space a performer? As the starting point, this question opened up a series of relevant and more specific questions throughout the research. In fact, the whole research is driven by continual questioning, answering and rethinking questions.
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“The natural body is the bearer of forces and the seat of duration; it is the body susceptible to specified operations, which have their order, their stages, their internal conditions, their constituent elements... It is the body of exercise rather than speculative physics; a body manipulated by authority, rather than imbued with animal spirits; a body of useful training and not of rational mechanics...� 1
-Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, 1995
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A Body Of Works
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//
1st Movement, an Allegro
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The Activated Space
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How is the space activated through body performance?
“An Observation” Murrumbeena Baptist Church Hall Stage, Hall Seating Area, Exit Gates 2013
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An Observation
An Extension
The research started with a basic observation about how my body movements operate in various interior spaces. In this project my body moved intuitively responding to its surroundings. The activities vary from everyday actions such as walking, lifting, crossing to exaggerated movements such as reaching, expanding, turning. Referencing objects for my movements were patterns on the ground, curtains, door frames and rows of chairs. During the video documentation, I made my actions intensively rhythmical as to create a series of still images, so to pose my body condition as the out-come for observation.
The second half of the observation is through extending into a wider exterior. By crossing the street on a speed bump, my responsive movement was restricted to the pattern on the ground only, and so the focus was on the route my body took when crossing, and not my body gestures. At this point, due to the lack of information, the spatial composition of the surroundings were no longer recognisable to my body. Therefore as the out-come of the project, the movements of my body flattened the space into an imagery plan. Additionally, by the action of crossing, my body mapped out the divisions of the space in its flattened form.
The project dragged my interest to the framing of the space with body gestures, along with the importance of body scale in the framed images, and the possibility of direct influence from my body to the space.
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“An Extension”
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Corner of Pelham Street and Berkeley Street 2013
CROSSING: A body movement mapping out the divisions of the flattened space.
“Since the beginning of the 1970s, Rebecca Horn has been creating an oeuvre which constitutes an ever-growing flow of performances, films, sculptures, spatial installations, drawings and photographs. The essence of their imagery comes out of the tremendous precision of the physical and technical functionality she uses to stage her works each time within a particular space. In the first performances, the body-extensions, she explores the equilibrium between body and space. In later works she replaces the human body with kinetic sculptures which take on their own life.” 2 Rebecca Horn Workshop, 2013
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A Mimic Inspired by the early works of body sculptures by Rebecca Horn, especially “Handschuhfinger” in 1972, the experiments turned from the extension of site to the extension of the body. In order to create direct response to the site, I imitated Rebecca’s mechanism of kinetic sculpture by attaching markers on my right hand fingers and testing out how my performance can influence the space in the action of drawing. The site here is an enclosed staircase and the performance includes both daily behaviour - gently walking up stairs, and hyperbolic action - madly waving arms. In this experiment, two actions are happening simultaneously on the same body entity. And through a conscious behaviour, the body’s unconscious response to the space was visualised. Here, a one-way relationship was generated and by the action of body drawing, the space and time was continued on the wall.
“A Mimic” Staircase in 222 Pelham Street 2013
2nd Movement, an Adagio
The Bodied Space
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How can body performance become a technique of drawing space?
//////// “An Act ” Part 1, a Ramp
Terrace on Level 1, 222 Pelham Street 2013
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I
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“An Act ” Part 2, Stairs
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Terrace on Level 1, 222 Pelham Street 2013
An Act From my last project, the idea of drawing caught my attention and because of its close relationship to human actions and body, I introduced drawing as another keyword, other than body performance and space, for the development of my research.
on aimed more on pre-designed body movements instead of intuitive behaviours, and since the visual aspect of all the projects played an important role, the choice of design media was more of a focus.
The drawing in the previous project “a Mimic” froze the happening of my actions, whereas “An Act” was a move to release the experience. For “An Act”, I acted out body response movements of simple building structures onto a distinct site. The site was an open terrace and the structures which were intended to be acted out were a ramp and stairs. As a freshman in acting, my extreme lack of body co-ordination made the recorded footages not so convincing. However, the idea of entirely acting relying on body memory was instead implemented thoroughly. By my body pretending, two parallel spaces occurred in the project: the present space that was visible, and the invisible memorised space that only existed in imagination. In order to approach the proposed out-come, my body reactions were de-formulate, responding to neither the physical site nor the original site in my mind. Here, the relationship between body movements and the space around it transitioned from one-way to two-way. Therefore, the research from then
A Question Architectural drawing, a crucial tool for interior design, was brought into the investigation to establish how it can be related to human body movements. Can body performance become a technique of drawing space? Upon looking into the concept of architectural drawing, can its components be embodied within body performance? The project “A Question” was inspired by the possibility that these questions arose. The project happened in a staircase, where I stepped up stairs, expanding my arms as much as possible to touch the side of the walls. The still image of each step I made was then cropped out and layered onto the internal elevation drawing of a differentiated direction. This single drawing laid out the negative space that human bodies are able to occupy in equal temporal and spatial units. It simultaneously showed the structure from two views in an understandable way.
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“A Question” was considered as a form of body drawing. And the notion of body drawing turned out not only to be a mimic or representation of spatial structure, but also to be extended into a procedure of measuring; a pattern marking the physical engagement in the space; a reflection of both exterior surroundings and interior order. Compared to restricted plans, elevations and sections, body drawings were more humanised. On the other hand, the essence of consistency and accuracy found in architectural drawings was lost in the representational nature of body drawings.
“There is no attempt at renovation nor resuscitation here, no return to figural origins.” 3
Robert McAnulty Body Troubles “A Mindmap ” Inspired by Robert McAnulty “Body Trouble” (previous page) 2013
“A Question ” Body Drawing (left) Architectural Drawings (right) 2013
3rd Movement, a Scherzo
The Poetic Possibility in Space
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000 032
How to actualise the poetic possibility in the space with body performance?
A Documentation Another body drawing project “A Documentation“ used lines to document body performances in the space with the means of light drawing. Such performances included both normal and exaggerated movements. Both open and closed spaces were explored. Wandering, as an intuitive body behaviour, exposed the law of crescendoing repetition in body movements responding to its surroundings. While brandishing my torch, a deliberate body behaviour, it detached itself from the space and became a disordered pattern.
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“A Documentation” Staircase in 222 Pelham Street 2013
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Similar to “A Mimic“, light drawing became the new markers removing the restriction of canvas drawing. In this project, body drawing could proceed freely in every corner of the space. Different from “A Question“, the shape of human body became invisible while the flow of body performances stood out. In the photographs, the limitations were less apparent and the poetic possibilities filled the space. The order and flow of the lines freed the space from its rigid structure into a vivid animation.
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“A Documentation” Terrace on level 1, 222 Pelham Street 2013
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“A body still is taking up just as much space and time as a body moving. The moving becomes more clear if the space and time around the moving are one of its opposite stillness.” 4
Merce Cunningham, Space, Time and Dance,1952
“An Introduction” Room in 121 Bouverie Street (previous page) 2013
An Introduction Above all, unitary performances such as posing, crossing, drawing, acting, walking, wandering and brandishing were investigated. Inspired by John Cage’s 4’33’’ where the absence of sound is music as well, I came up with the idea that the absence of movement might also be performance. “An introduction” applied the idea into an experiment of me holding up a 50cmx50cm yellow sheet, standing still in a room. The camera shot a series of different compositions. The project not only introduced the idea of stillness to the research but also the application of object. In the pictorial output, the digital-like square added a prop to the photo-shoot while the space of the framed shape became void due to the unrealistic scene. “An Introduction”, together with “a Documentation“ opened up the visual possibilities and evoked the concept of rhythm through body movements. “An Introduction” especially brought up that objects, proceeded in the presence of body movements, could cause disorientation in pictorial circumstances. 042
4th Movement, a Rondo
The Opening up of Space
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“Only during the last ten thousand years of sedentary living have we passed from the architecture of open space to the architecture of filled space.� 5
Francesco Careri, walkscapes, 2002
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How to open up the space with body performance occupying the space?
A Pause Extended from the idea of stillness in the previous project, the exploration gradually drifted away from domestic indoor space into urban scenario. The performances were set in such places as aside a fountain, beside a traffic light, in front of a renovation site, and by a tree. I held the fluorescent yellow square used in previous project, covering a part of my body. In the footages, subtle movements during my stopping were all captured by the video camera.
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When I stopped, the space around me became slightly activated. The holding of the object drew attention to all the subtleness around me, the negative space was to breathe. Interestingly, the trigger to switch on the space movements was the absence of movement. 048
“A Pause” Renovation Site and traffic light on Russell Street (previous pages) 2013
“A Pause“ implied that the performance of stopping in busy city life was like a pause, additionally, it was also a pause of my research from moving gestures in my previous works into a quiet, slow and still one. My body here kept its importance in its gestures and conditions but its shape and volume were no longer prominent. Notably, the object with its colour, form and position, associating with the designed scenarios decided the outcome.
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An Opposition After exploring the negative space around my body, the project “An Opposition” again looked at the positive space of human body and gestures. One hundred attachable glow sticks were used to show my movements through my wearing them. The performance was held in a dark room where only the glowing shape of the “clothing” could be seen. By moving around, the original 3D effects of movements were flattened to waves of patterns. The focus in this project was driven back to the shape and the rhythm of my body while the real shape of my body was invisible. Both the dark background and the illuminating front layer were shown in a 2D way.
“An Opposition” Room in 121 Bouverie Street 2013
Preparation for“An Opposition” Room in 121 Bouverie Street (next page) 2013
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A Response In the last project “A Response”. I used a 30m sheet of polyester and spread it onto an open grass field outside an urban area. After a series of experiments playing with its shape, layout and position, the project ended up with me simply dragging the spread-out fluorescent yellow sheet directly away from the camera vanishing into the horizon. The project visually opened up the site by removing the covered area, which had become flattened due to the absence of its shade. The presence of both 2D and 3D perception in the same scene created this visually disoriented space, which was gradually brought back to its original appearance in a slow but stimulating procedure.
In terms of the prop of the performance, the scale of the object used was enlarged and the proportion of my body in the scene was dramatically reduced. Although the body could no longer be seen in the video, the rhythm and condition of body movement were embedded into the movement of the object. And the sense of humanised spatial behaviour started to grow. Because of the distinguished and complex differences between my body and space around me, the project was intended to be operated simply but strong. The inter-relationship between them could be understood as the stages of completing a performed space and activating a performing space. All of the above was a visual journey.
“A Response” is the gathering of all the knowledge I gained through the exploration of all my previous works. In terms of the aspect of positive and negative space, the sheet itself could be understood to represent both. When it was considered positive the worm-like movement on the end of the sheet was emphasized on, while when it was regarded as the negative space, it was through the procedure that the real space was filled into the framed scene.
“A Response”
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Round Grass Field in Royal Park (Previous page) 2013
Stills from “A Response” Round Grass Field in Royal Park (Next page) 2013
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A Rewind
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“Originally we had in mind what you might call an imaginary beauty, a process of basic emptiness with just a few things arising in it. . . . And then when we actually set to work, a kind of avalanche came about which corresponded not at all with that beauty which had seemed to appear to us as an objective. Where do we go then? . . . Well what we do is go straight on; that way lies, no doubt, a revelation. I had no idea this was going to happen. I did have an idea something else would happen. Ideas are one thing and what happens another.� 6 John Cage, Where are we going? And what are we doing?, 1961
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The Shifting of Sites
The Time Aspect
Throughout the whole research the sites I engaged in changed from domestic interior (“An Observation“, ”A Mimic”, “An Introduction“, “An Opposition“) to domestic exterior (“An Act“, “A Documentation“), and from urban interior to urban exterior (“A Response“).
(Also see “A Diagram: Illustration of the Time Aspect of the Research”)
The shifting of sites was more like a wave fluctuating from one to another (also see: “A Diagram: Illustration of the Shifting of Sites through out the Research”). The network it produced pushed the decisions of sites for the research into wider and more open spaces. Accordingly, the body with its fixed scale lost its visionary dominance. However, the potentialities of the space and objects were unmasked.
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There were three major ideas relating to time discovered in the research. The concept of frozen time was elaborated mainly in the drawings (“A Mimic“and “A Documentation“). The drawings as the result of the projects played the role of the media which stored the frozen form of time. In “A Question” the layering of time was experimented with. The same period of time frames were locked together and shown at the same time. The attention to speed control eventually ended up in the originality of regular time(“A Pause“, “A Response”). It was directly related to the intention of spatial behaviour triggered by human movements. Only within regular time could the performing space stand out and show its real existence.
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The Pictorial Aspect (Also see “A Diagram: Illustration of the Pictorial Aspect of the Research�) The idea of body gestures framing the space was employed throughout the whole procedure. The pictorial aspect was a returning theme throughout my projects. The introducing and the fading out of drawing as a means of operation brought fruitful understanding and helped the development of my research. It drew the conclusion that although drawing, as a form of documentation, maintained the accuracy of representation, it operated outside real time. And that later started the idea of using objects. The relationship between the body and the object moved from the body visually existing with an object to the body visually existing within an object. The change co-responded to the amplification of sites and again showed the decline of importance of the form of the human body. The final investigations of opening up the space was driven to a pictorial concept. The visual opening of the space versus the physical occupying of the space became the most significant and last discovery of the exploration, and would be executed in the following designs.
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Methodology
The methodology used throughout the research was the procedure of continual stepping forwards and testing, and stepping back and synthesizing. The research was developed in a linear way in terms of the chronological development between each project, but also in an expanded way regarding the branch-like connections. The loop of leaving out and taking back ideas and projects made the research increasingly richer in the process of research through design.
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Appendix Of Works
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Title
Location
Description
An Observation
Hall Stage Hall Seating Area Exit Gates
This project is a series of still images of my moving around and posing in different interior spaces.
An Extension
Speed Bump
This is an edited video which shows the overlapping of 2 footages of me crossing the pedestrian path. The action of crossing includes marching, jumping, running.
CROSSING - a body movement mapping out the divisions of the flattened space.
In this project I tied markers to my fingers and drew on the side wall with them while I was stepping up the stairs. The marks were left on a piece of paper which was attached on the wall.
DRAWING - a conscious behaviour visualising the body’s subconscious response to the space.
This is a video recording of my body movements acting out non-present spatial arrangements such as ramp and stairs.
ACTING - a segment of body behavioural memories occurring in space concentrating on as well as shifting away from reality.
A Mimic
An Act
Staircase
Terrace
Knowledge POSE _
CROSS_ FLATTEN
DRAW_ CONTINUE
ACT_ IMAGINE
A Question
Staircase
This project explored the possibilities of body drawings approaching the concept of architectural drawings. The drawing is the layout of body expansion on steps, spreading out on a different angle of elevation.
WALKING - an approach to challenge traditional understanding of space by twisting orthogonal spatial composition: Shifting angles and segmenting periods of time. WALK_ MARSHAL
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A Documentation
An Introduction
A Pause
An Opposition
Staircase Terrace
Room
The light drawings here are the documentation of my spatial actions while stepping up stairs and moving around on the terrace.
ORDER&LOOSE_ FREE
This is a small test of how holding a 500mm x 500mm fluorescent yellow sheet of paper can visually effect the framed surroundings when photographed.
HOLDING - an action done with bodily consciousness in order to form things.
Fountain Traffic Light Renovation site Tree
The project recorded 4 footages of me statically holding a fluorescent yellow square sheet in various sites where subtle surrounding movements became animated.
STOPPING - an absence of body movement that brings the negative space to the fore.
Room
This is a video of me wearing glow sticks all over my body and move around in a dark room.
WEARING - a series of exaggerated body movements focusing on the positive space.
HOLD_ VOID
STOP_ ACTIVATE
WEAR_ SHOW
A Response
Grass Field
In this project I dragged a flat 30m fluorescent yellow polyester sheet, which was located in the middle of the field, away from the viewer.
DANCING - a bodied movement that activates spatial behaviour and opens up the space. DANCE_ OPEN
Diagrams
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Note: All reference images see Related Works Appendix
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Merce Cunningham Space, Time and DancE 1952////
the space with body performance occupying the space?
RICHARD LONG WALKING A LINE IN PERU 1972////
A MINDMAP INSPIRED BY Robert McAnulty “BODY TROUBLE” ////
actualize the poetic possibility in the space with body performance?
/// How to open up
////////
RF01 RF02
RF03
RF04
Pina Bausch In Conversation with Jochen Schmidt 1978////
References
body performance become a technique of drawing space?
/// How to
/// A Diagram Illustration of the Development of the Research
DANIELLE WILDE REBECCA HORN HIPDISK HANDSCHUHFINGER 2007//// 1972////
vated through body performance?
/// How can
GUY DEBORD PSYCHOGEOGRAPHIC GUIDE OF PARIS 1957////
/// How is the space acti-
RF05
084
////////
DOMESTIC EXTERIOR //
085 RF01 RF02 DOMESTIC INTERIOR /////
RF03 RF04 /// A Diagram Illustration of the Shifting of Sites through out the Research
References Grass Field
Room
Fountain Traffic Light Renovation site Tree
Room
Staircase Terrace
Staircase
Terrace
Staircase
Pedestrian
Hall Stage Hall Seating Area Exit Gates
URBAN EXTERIOR /
URBAN INTERIOR //
RF05
086
THE PARALLELED TIME
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THE HIGHLIGHTED TIME
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THE RECORDED TIME
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THE OVERLAPPED TIME
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THE FROZEN TIME
Without References
Time as a crucial factor exists in the process of body movements //// The significance of movement is shown through regular-speed time-flow ////
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RF03factor RF01Time as a crucial exists in the outcome of RF02body movements ////
/// A Diagram Illustration of the Time Aspect of the Research
Within
/////
RF04
RF05
The significance of movement is shown through irregular-speed time-flow ////
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The impact of human body in terms of its visual importance to the project //// The impact of object in terms of its visual importance to the project //// The impact of drawing in terms of its documentary contribution to the project //// The effect of opening up the space in the existence of human body ////
BODY OBJECT DRAWING SPACE
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////////
/// References
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RF01 RF02
RF03
RF04
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/// A Diagram Illustration of the Pictorial Aspect of the Research
///
RF05
090
Conclusion The investigations into the inter-relationship between human body movements and the spaces in their visual circumstances found the synchronisation of the following two directions: the movements related body performance to the space, and that the pictorial outcome brings the space back to body performance. The intertwining of these two subjects were propelled with the assistance of objects with body rhythms and conditions embedded within.
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Endnotes
Bibliography
Andre Lepecki, ed. Dance. London: Whiechapel Gallery and The MIT Press,2012. Francesco Careri. Walkscapes: walking as an aesthetic practice. Barcelona: Editorial Gustavo Gili, S.L., 2002. Johanna Burton. Vitamin D : new perspectives in drawing. London : Phaidon, 2005. 1. Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, 1995, passim. 2. http://www.rebecca-horn.de/pages/biography.html 3. Lois Weinthal, ed. Toward a New Interior: an anthology of interior design Theory. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2011.p 84 4. Merce Cunnungham, “Space, Time and Dance“(1952), in Merce Cunninghanm: Fifty Years, ed. Melissa Harris (New York: Aperture, 1997) p 66-7
Lois Weinthal, ed. Toward a New Interior: an anthology of interior design Theory. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2011. Merlin Coverley. Psychogeography. London: Oldcastle Books, Limited, 2012. Melissa Harris, ed. Merce Cunninghanm: Fifty Years. New York: Aperture, 1997. Tania Kovats. The Drawing book: a survey of drawing: the primary means of expression. London : Black Dog Publishing, 2005.
5. Francesco Careri. Walkscapes: walking as an aesthetic practice. Barcelona: Editorial Gustavo Gili, S.L., 2002. p 32-3
James, Glen Seator, Adam D. Weinberg, Mark Wigley, and Anthony Vidler Casebere. The Architectural Unconscious: James Casebere + Glen Seator. Philadelphia: Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, 2001.
6. John Cage, Inke Arns and Dieter Daniels. Sounds Like Silence: John Cage 4’33” Silence Today. Leipzig: Spector Books, 2012. p 203
John Cage, Inke Arns and Dieter Daniels. Sounds Like Silence: John Cage 4’33” Silence Today. Leipzig: Spector Books, 2012.
Reference
Diller & Scofidio http://www.dsrny.com/
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Dark Mofo http://darkmofo.net.au/
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SWARMnight http://www.lwgallery.uwa. edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_ file/0009/2259450/2013S1PP-LWAG-9Feb-20April_ WEB.pdf
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Theatres and space http://www.ia470.com/ primer/theatres.htm
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Rebecca Horn http://www.rebecca-horn. de/pages/biography.html
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Danielle Wilde http://www.daniellewilde. com/dw/hipdisk.html
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Richard Long http://www.richardlong. org/index.html
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Guy Debord http://imaginarymuseum. org/LPG/Mapsitu1.htm
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Rain Room http://www.barbican.org. uk/news/artformnews/art/ visual-art-2012-random-internati
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Dan Perjovschi http://www.lombard-freid.com/artist_lg_image. php?id=192
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Meyer Riegger http://www.meyer-riegger. de/en/index.php?cat=archive&exhib_id=6
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Maya Deren http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_ id=89283
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Onirim http://onirim.com/en/
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Felice Varini http://www.varini.org/
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