A performative exploration lasting several hours.
Durational Rope
(2013 – 2014)
This work is a performative exploration lasting several hours, in which the artist duo QUARTO, using a kilometrelong 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.
Choreography, concept & performance: Anna Mesquita & Leandro Zappala.
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.