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Dynasty, decay, doors. Dangerous construction, crushed dynamics. Gravity and grace, suspended from slowly rubbing surfaces.
Timespan. Movements going upwards and downwards leaving the sculpture light and heavy. Striving.
Walking around in a distance kept by the fence. It’s huge, impressive. Like an animal breathing; moving without the eye grasping its continously row of tiny changes.

Ai Weiwei (1957, lives and works in Beijing) : Template (2007)

Entered Museum Fridericianum after queueing for half an hour. A bit restless. The museum was full, completely. Taking a deep breath made my feet move to the first floor passing a shouting tour guide and 10 stairing people blocking the stairs.

I entered the room in the middle of the museum. People had gathered around a square sculpture consisting of clothes hanging on ropes suspended from a black metal construction. On a signal the woman in front of me started dancing, I took a quick glance at the map of the exhibition: The choreographer Trisha Brown (1936, lives and works in New York) was behind the performance. I spotted my fellow traveller, we blinked satisfied to one another and dived into a really amazing experience.

The choreography of Accumulation (1971) was simple and powerful. It built up quietly while continously adding movements to a main set of gestures. The 10-15 dancers repeated the choreography four times turning 90 degrees at each repetition only followed by music the first time. As such, the melody kept resonating in the ears as the dance went on. A very delicate detail.

The second part of the performance, Floor of the forest (1971), existed of two dancers climbing the square sculpture and “wearing” the clothes while hanging in the robes. The bodies were deformed by gravity and it made a thoughtprovoking contrast to the very grid-like construction of the sculpture and the everyday look of the clothes.

Just about 2 hours before experiencing the performance I stood in the Aue-Pavillon in front of another work of Trisha Brown; the videowork Roof and Fire Piece (1973) showing dancers scattered on different rooftops passing movements on to each other. The video was installed next to a complex and exclusive art project on cityscapes and architecture, which didn’t leave much room for the video as it was also badly installed on a small screen. Nevertheless, it was interesting to see the connection between Accumulation, Floor of the forest and Roof and Fire Piece as they mapped on to each other in terms of development of movements and choreography in everyday life.

The 30 minutes long performance was worth the whole trip. It might have been the contrast it made to the busy exhibition, as the performance took the whole room and allowed for contemplation with no clear or hasty conclusion. Here one could focus on movements in silence while standing still instead of moving busily around an exhibition room too full of often competing artworks and spectators.

Trisha Brown on wikipedia

Airplay has been nominated as the best art experience in Copenhagen accompanied by Copenhagen X, Mogadishni, Helene Nyborg Contemporary, V1 Gallery and Galleri Christina Wilson (the latter will be represented at Frieze Art Fair 2007)

The winner is chosen by a public vote, which takes place from the 9th of November on aok.dk.

And while we’re talking about Ariplay, if you’re in Copenhagen please visit the new exhibition Byen i forandring (The City in Change) at DAC (Centre of Architecture, Denmark), where Airplay is included. There is a feature on the exhibition here.