Even before moving to Berlin, thanks to the many trips that I had made to the German capital, I had already built an ideal map of the city in my mind. There were places that reminded me of a memorable evening spent with friends, paths that were etched in my memory by the fascinating sights that opened up on the canal or on the Spree, meadows that were perfect to lie down in, to read or to sunbathe. In short, a kind of map of places that were close to my heart. Since living here, this map has been enriched by many other beautiful or important corners of the city because they are linked to memories and pleasant feelings. Amongst them, from my own list of ‘art spots’, is the Tanya Leighton Gallery.
A short walk from the U8 Kürfürstenstrasse, one after the other, there are some exhibition spaces of Berlin where I have enjoyed some very enlightening exhibitions, all very well curated. At that very place right now, the exhibition entitled It’s not lame … It’s lamé by Jimmy Robert, is still in progress.
At the opening, as I manoeuvred between the works of art by the artist from Guadeloupe, I was immediately struck by the idea of ‘movement’. This concept was as present in his abstract work as in his work that depicted human subjects. As for the images, the choice of graphic media and their exposure had great scope. I found the same feeling of lightness and movement, in a work of origami paper, which recalled a sculpture composed of laminate, geometrically linear and angular, overlapping.
During the evening, whilst everyone was intent on observing the works on display, a performance began, which captured everybody’s attention.
A dancer, whose legs were covered and almost enveloped by the sculpture Metallica, began, to reproduce the lines of the piece that contained him, first with slow movements, then gradually becoming faster and harder.
The man, like a mythological figure, began to breathe life into the sculpture from the human bust and from the lower limbs, which were mutated in a composition of steel sheets,
Moving on three different levels, the bust, which had initially been lying down and folded on one of the white sheets, very slowly became erect, reproducing the geometry of the work, by moving his arms.
Intrigued by his work and by the performance I had attended, at the end of the gallery opening, I had a little talk with Jimmy Robert.
How does dance influence your work?
Dance and by extension any form of gesture matters to me, learning Trio A from Yvonne Rainer as Pat Catterson taught it 11 years ago was for sure also a major catalyst in terms of envisioning anything pedestrian as a possible dance and consequently enormously emancipatory in terms of thinking that is is not only technique that makes the work but also observations of what is already happening around us in the world with bodies and the many ideas these observations can generate.
Dance is as influential as litterature, as some politics, as fashion, it’s all around I just keep my eyes open and try to see it where it is least expected.
What do you think about the contamination amongst different disciplines in contemporary art?
Contamination sounds a bit negative, I would rather say pollination.
As long as this produces good work I am totally for it; experimentation is twice as joyous when it produces something radical or questions that are in turn formalised interestingly, anything else becomes quickly gratuitous or just opportunistic.
The current times are all about performance I hope this lasts more than a season.
It’s a moment for dialogue and we should make the most of it as that is always an exciting time perhaps indeed reversely proportional to the economy that surround us.
Are you planning to include dance again in your future works?
I will try as long as I can, or collaborate with people who can, but as mentioned above my interest lies in performativity and that is located in more than one place not just in dance but in gender, objects, language etc…
and the limits of each of these are drives that motivates new works.
Nicola Campanelli
