Presented by Katherine Coppock and Fiona Gardner
Reviewed Sunday 5th August 2012
The annual SALA (South Australian Living Artists) Festival is a massive event covering all forms of visual art but, once in a while, there is something very different, and this outstanding production is one of those. It covers a number of genres through its blending of the enormous talents of two people, Katherine Coppock, a visual artist, and Fiona Gardner, a dancer/choreographer. Combining their skills and ideas these two have produced a remarkable and highly engaging work encompassing dance, movement, live art creation, acting, visual imagery, installation art, performance art, multimedia performance, a research project, and more. Art is supposed to reflect and comment upon society and this piece does that extremely well.
There are four different performances being presented over the four weekends, all related to the common theme of the crutches that people use to get them through their lives. Most people would relate to the first coffee of the day, without which the day is very hard to face. Others need that cigarette to start their day. Some have a ‘lucky’ piece of clothing that they wear on special occasions, such as job interviews or first dates. There are the ‘shopaholics’, the gym junkies, sports fanatics, and I am sure every reader can think of plenty more. We all have something that we lean on at some time or another. That is what these two highly imaginative artists investigate in this project.
They have subdivided the crutches into four subsets, and the first of the performances was titled The Body Hooked. The three remaining performances are The Body Camouflaged, The Body Extreme, and The Body Impulsed, all of which titles are self explanatory. The Body Hooked looked at all of those chemically based substances on which people become hooked, from the caffeine in coffee, to alcohol, to cigarettes, to prescription and over-the-counter medicines, both used and abused, to illegal drugs, et alia.
At the centre of this work is the source material, statements about their real life crutches submitted by anonymous contributors via a web site. You can still add to this project by including your own contribution on the web site. Just follow the link at the end of this review and become a part of this fascinating experimental art piece.
For this first part of the quartet of performances, Coppock appeared dressed in white, with white face and hands, an anonymous figure, while Gardner had a basic grey outfit to which she added various other clothes to help create and delineate the numerous characters. Whether Coppock was on stage, drawing on a plastic sheet across the front of the stage, assisting Gardner or working as a performer with her, or whether she was at the overhead projector, there was always a very close integration of what the two were doing.
In a novel approach to multi media performances, a simple overhead projector replaces both stage lighting and electronically generated and projected images and videos. This projector is the only source of lighting and is varied by the use of colour filters, and projects artwork that is created as we watch. Coppock cleverly uses a dish on the overhead projector, with a little water, coloured liquid, and dissolving tablets, to create fascinating, organic, abstract art. She also draws onto clear media and projects these images onto the stage area.
Gardner, meanwhile, explores in dance and movement the various crutches, or addictions identified by their research into the responses entered on the web site. There is an immense emotional range in her performance and enormous variation in her interpretation as she moves through the various ideas. She eases her way from one concept to another in a steadily evolving flow of ideas. Her command of her movement is superb, ranging from intricate to powerful, fluid to angular as she tackles each aspect.
How these two imaginative and innovative artists will interpret the other three parts of this production remains to be seen and, judging by this first part, they are going to be well worth seeing. You can book via their web site or pay at the door. With a good crowd in attendance for the opening performance, it might be wiser to book. You would not want to miss out on an event that is exactly what SALA is all about at its best, finding and exposing new forms of artistic expression and discovering pathfinders who are seeking alternative directions.
Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Arts Editor, Glam Adelaide.
Facebook page
Production web site
Venue: The Reading Room, 153 Hindley Street, Adelaide
Season: 5:30 Sun 12th , Sun 17th and 7:30 Sat 25th
Duration: 35mins
Tickets: Adults $15/Conc $10
Bookings: via web site
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