Clay Bodies (study)

In Clay Bodies (study), fired ceramics are used to generate movement, sound, and music. Stroking, striking, wearing, breaking: gestures that produce a vibration too persistent to ignore. Voices shift and tune into the rumble of destruction. Drawing on diverse sources, from ancient sculpture to contemporary pop culture, the work brings ancient and contemporary worlds into collision.

Loosely based on the myth of Pandora, the work recalls the ancient telling where the evils of the world were released not from a box but from an earthen jar or pithos (πίθος)—an all too human gesture almost inevitable. The performance unfolds after the rupture, in a time when what has been released cannot be taken back, and what remains is the ongoing task of inhabiting the consequences.

The work is presented as an installation with three distinct 20-minute live sequences, in which gestures, sounds, and fragments of text coalesce, continually reconfiguring the gallery space.

Credits

Concept and choreograph Ula Sickle Creation and performance Amanda Barrio Charmelo, Sophia Dinkel, Jose Funnel, Amina Szecsödy Sound and light design Ofer Smilansky Ceramic objects Maika Garnica, Ula Sickle Costume design Wang Consulting Dramaturgy Martin Zicari, Persis Bekkering Text Ula Sickle, Martin Zicari, Persis Bekkering Research Savannah Marquardt Production and coordination Joëlle Laederach Executive Production Outline Co-production Kanal / Centre Pompidou Brussels, Concertgebouw Bruges, Perpodium With the support of the Flemish Community, Tax shelter of the Belgian government