DANCERS |Ailish Claffey | Magdalena Hylak | Matt Szczerek | Karol Szarek | Danielle NG | Tobi Balogun | Kamile Ciapaite
Oil & Water do not mix – they are described as immiscible, contrasting textures, conflicting ideologies. However these substances move around each other, without contamination or compromise, one assisting the other to rise, both eventually settling back in their place of comfort.
RUA RED gallery became a pop up ‘digital theatre’ space for three days in June 2016, where dancers from a variety of artistic backgrounds and movement techniques collaborated with Cathy (Havoc Dance Company), to present a series of new multidisciplinary works.
Havoc chose to collaborate with a group of artists who, through situation or location, did not necessarily access or require a traditional theatre structure. Oil and Water created an opportunity for live performance to be expanded through digital media allowing the dancers to fully investigate the concepts and themes within their work.
Two walls of the gallery operated as a fluid canvas or backdrop for each performance, magnifying movement and unraveling narrative. Each performance was connected through film and projection. Artists were facilitated in making their work site specific. The recordings take in the length and breath of the country, from the bogs of Connemara, to the lakes of Cavan, to the grittier parts of inner City Dublin.
This work explores themes of isolation, conflict and mutual support as the dancers look for points of intersection and moments of synergy between the digital world around them and their physical body.
Four artists were invited to collaborate with Cathy Coughlan on this work. Artists involved include Ailish Claffey, Magdalena Hylak, Jessie Keenan and Matt Szczerek (Human Collective).READ MORE ABOUT ARTISTS
The piece was presented in gallery 1 & 2 at RUA RED ARTS CENTRE over three evenings.
Cathy Coughlan 