The Unfamiliar Body
Helen Zhang
Writing is rewriting, performance is a practice, a dance can be a song, and a poem can be a painting. The Unfamiliar Body defamiliarizes pedestrian movement and prompts the viewer to consider another perspective of performing art and the connection of design and dance with a conscious mind. A performance comprising individual frames can be thought of as a photograph, sculpting the four-dimensional motion.
The body is a vessel to be researched. This process workbook translates the storytelling of dance into an experimental digital experience, a newspaper, and a transient performance. The website enables the user to experiment with the components of choreography. The newspaper, rendered at a large scale, incites performance, turning the reader into a performer through the act of unfolding.
The website and printed piece present different explorations of three core chapters: Archive (movement as an inventory of motions) demonstrates movements in five categories through deconstructing and reorganizing; Space Arrangement (object, space, shape) unlocks sculptural shapes of body and objects; Textual Performance (text, voice, lyric) inspires users to explore with the potential of text, connect the body with script, and features self-written poetry. Content is analyzed and formatted into a three-column frame throughout two media. The navigation bar acts like a stage, framing the interactive canvas in digital space. The subtitles guide the viewers with hierarchical text on print media.
The Unfamiliar Body redefines performance. Movements are cultural, sociological, and contextual. This distant and poetic artform can be re-introduced and encouraged by re-examining everyday life and movement.