FOUR ON THE FLOOR | SIX IN THE AIR

FOUR ON THE FLOOR | SIX IN THE AIR, 2023

Live durational performance 29 July. Exhibition, 4 August to 16 September at Harbour House, Kingsbridge, Devon.

FOUR ON THE FLOOR | SIX IN THE AIR is a human-operated, tech-supported crochet machine directed by birds.

At Harbour House the live work was divided into 6 episodes, each lasting 45 minutes. Taking place across 6 different locations around the town, the performance created an exhibition out of the artefacts and trace elements left behind.

During each episode a birder reported to the gallery on the movement of birds at their location. The artist decoded the live commentary into a series of instructions and stitches for crochet. These instructions were then fashioned into an ever-evolving pattern by a team of crocheters working with the artist in real-time.

As well as finding form in different coloured yarns and knotted textures, the moves and stitches from each birding location were archived by a team of record keepers working in tandem on a large, 7-metre blackboard at the far end of the gallery.

Together the birds, birders, crocheters, broadcast crew, record keepers and the artist formed their own fragile working machine. Human-operated and supported by technology, the machine remained essentially avian. Its pace, shape and particular rhythm operating in service to the will and evolving patterns of water, woodland and garden birds moving around the town.

As an artwork the FOUR ON THE FLOOR | SIX IN THE AIR machine is uncomfortably live. It is open to the unknown, moving forward without knowing what is coming next. It tolerates misdirection and the curious slippages of translation as information passes through its various chambers and moving parts. It is as interested in the processes of making as what is made, leaving visible the machinations and turning cogs of its construction to locate its own particular language.

FOUR ON THE FLOOR | SIX IN THE AIR is also a portrait of the town that hosts it, with members of the local community adopting roles that support its production. The traces of its human protagonists as well as their avian counterparts can be found in its workings and final expression.

KEYWORDS

Liveness | Performance | Crochet | Chalkboards | Birdwatching | Translation Dialogue | Graphic Scores | Notation | Community | Socially Engaged Practice | Coding | Error | Rules & Instructions | Archiving | Artist as Producer | Post Human Landscape