RETURN TO COLLABORATIVE WORKS
the fall experiment, 2017
Details
Three clay/wood and iron-ore sculptures, three circular video projections, three tables of clay process, two tables of iron ore process, iron ore furnace.
Installation dimensions variable.
Photography: Hein van Liempd
Video Documentary: click here (opens in new window)
Links
DESCRIPTION
This body of work is the second exhibition by Borland/Condon collaborating as Circles of Focus to reimagine human body donation as a means of artistic research. The method used was the sourcing and performative exploration of natural materials with which to re-enact an 18th Century Fall Experiment developed by the Dutch mathematician, lawyer and natural philosopher Willem‘s Gravesande. Working over a two-month artistic residency period, alongside a small group of prospective donors, all pieces in the exhibition were sourced and produced locally, using archaic means of hand-production which relied on fire as a power-source.
Participatory, public re-enactment of The Fall Experiment by the prospective donor participants, was proposed as an experimental, contractual agreement for the bequest of the human body for the purpose of artistic research.
research/process
Reconstructing The Fall Experiment
Willem‘s Gravesande’s 18th Century Fall Experiment was reconstructed using locally sourced clay and iron ore, and publicly re-enacted in a parlour performance by the project participants; throughout the course of a day of talks and events, different iron ore ‘blooms’ were dropped into 3 beds of prepared clay.
The indented clay tablets made during the re-enactment were fired overnight in a hand-made clay kiln, constructed in the back-yard of the gallery. All participants and collaborators were invited to this public event. The fired tablets, bearing the traces of the drops, formed the core of the exhibition.
research/process
Sourcing and processing materials
Iron ore ‘blooms' were forged over a period of four days, working on location at Archeon; an archeological ‘living museum’ in Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands where public re-enactments from various periods of Dutch history are performed daily. Using Iron Age methods to construct and fire a forge made of clay, the artist worked with Experimental Archaeologist Jan Jennissen, to produce the iron used in the reconstruction of the Fall Experiment from locally sourced ore.
Clay was sourced during a day long event on reclaimed Polder land in the vicinity of the city of Leiden. Tiemen Cocquyt, curator of Museum Boerhaave, gave an informal lecture about the historic Fall Experiment conducted by Willem 's Gravesande in 1722. The clay was harvested and refined in collaboration with designers Nadine Sterk and Lonny van Ryswyck of Atelier NL.
SYMPOSIUM DEATH ANIMATIONS
With their second Death Animations symposium, Christine Borland and Brody Condon introduced their ongoing practice-based research project Circles of Focus, which examined the potential for artistic exploration of the human body after death. In anticipation of the upcoming exhibition at Stroom, Borland and Condon were joined by members of the public, possible participants and a selection of experts in anatomy, the history of science, sustainable design, and the philosophy of law. The symposium was envisaged as an informal and intimate gathering, which included performative presentation formats including an experimental human dissection performed via live stream from Melbourne.
Participants
Dr. Quentin A. Fogg: PhD FRCPS (Glasgow) Circles of Focus collaborative partner and Senior Lecturer in Anatomy, Centre for Human Anatomy Education, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia (Via Skype).
Dr Jonathan Price: PhD Fellow and Lecturer at the Institute for the Interdisciplinary Study of the Law, Leiden University. Research into concepts of human personhood in law and culture.
Prof. Boudewijn Sirks: Emeritus professor of Civil Law at Oxford University, expert in philosophy and theology.
Bart Grob: Curator for the History of Medicine, Museum Boerhaave (Leiden). Research interests include the history of technology, new media and the public image of science.
Tiemen Cocquyt: Curator Natural Sciences, Museum Boerhaave (Leiden). Cocquyt particularly enjoys replicating historic scientific instruments and reconstructing their modus operandi. He demonstrates Willem Jacob 's Gravesande’s (1688-1742) most famous Fall Experiment.
Lonny van Ryswyck: AtelierNL, Think Global, Dig Local. What can local raw materials teach us about a place? How does familiarity with the origins of material help us to use them more wisely? Can a deeper relationship with materials improve humanity’s approach to the environment as a whole?
Conversation Paul Perry (NL) with Francis McKee (UK)
Paul Perry, artist, filmmaker and writer. Over the years his work shifted from the production and presentation of artworks towards a series of projects undertaken in both social and scientific domains. Francis McKee (UK), Director at the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow. Earlier in his career he worked as a medical historian at the Welcome Unit for the History of Medicine at the University of Glasgow