Basque artist Jorge Oteiza began to develop what he called his “experimental purpose”, an approach to sculpture based on the notion of de-occupying matter. Space then acquires a dominant role and the viewer can adopt an active attitude toward the emptiness of the sculpture.
Drawing inspiration from Oteiza, in partnership with Basque artists and Good Company Arts collaborators, this film study for the project 'Encounter' can be considered as experimenting with de-occupying space.
Oteiza’s 'Par Móvil' sculpture is a dynamic construction that combines curved forms with different spatial orientations, evoking the idea of movement, and this has inspired our digital-physical response.
The sculpture suggests centrifugal movement that liberates a nucleus, which is enhanced through partnership with the dancer figure. Our virtual 3D sculpture, sound design and filmed dance, share the digital field as a dialogue of provocation.
The Arc Movil film sample describes a process of augmenting the somatic through choreographic, sonic and electronic means. This study offers an example of how Daniel Belton, Juan José Eslava Cabanellas, and the collaborative team of Trio Zukan, taonga pūoro artists Ariana Tikao, Alistair Fraser and Ruby Solly, with dance artist Amit Noy and motion graphics artist Jac Grenfell - co-create choreographically, sonically, visually.
In terms of spatial design relating to cinema and theatre, this research promotes a fusion realm where performing arts intersect with digital arts. Traditional Māori and Basque instruments combine in the music score. The dancer activates and conducts space with hand held objects relating to the original design of Oteiza's 'Par Móvil'. Motion graphics reimagine how Otieza's static sculpture might actually move - the animations transmit a dynamic three dimensional choreography of rotating form, light and shadow.
Relating to sound and visual dimension - an emotional threshold is navigated through the presence of the dancer (Noy), the virtual sculpture (Grenfell) and the breathing music score (Juan José Eslava Cabanellas).
The Encounter project invites us as audience to become co-creators of meaning - in conversation with the work of art. George Segal observed that there is "often a feeling, both in the artist and in the recipient, that the artist not so much creates but reveals a reality - part of the aesthetic experience has to do with a feeling of revelation of some half-perceived, apprehended truth, which is discovered not invented".
Special thanks to Aitziber Urtasun and the Fundación Museo Jorge Oteiza, Juan José Eslava Cabanellas, collaborating musicians and Amit Noy. Ngā mihi nui Creative New Zealand toi Aotearoa for supporting this zero carbon footprint cultural exchange between the Basque Country and Aotearoa.
Daniel Belton, Donnine Harrison and Good Company Arts
“Dance can be thought of as sculpture that moves. It is fluid, three-dimensional, and depends so much on the movement of a traditional figure in sculpture - the human body - that it is as if statues had come alive and began moving as part of their beauty” Richard Jewell
Watch: ENCOUNTER (Arc Movil)
