‘And yet it moves’
Brown&Bri
11 – 26 April 2014
Closing performance 7pm, Friday 25th April
And yet it moves: a study of the moon, the lives of astronomers William and Caroline Herschel, the properties of timber, round-singing, lightness, light-ness and Lightness, and the depth to which all these are connected.
Beginning with the account of an epiphany in which a vast, universal truth becomes known, and then forgotten. An orchestrated set of narratives follow, which, in their orchestration attempt to reconstruct a similar moment of clarity. Scored and recited as a musical arrangement, the narratives draw on diverse literary sources and disciplines to demonstrate the interconnectivity of all things.
The performance takes place within an installation of projected white light, a musical score, and a family of the five platonic solids, themselves preliminary structures for future artworks. All are broadcast over theoretical or actual radiowaves, as a means of accessing a fourth dimension.
The relation between the sculptural objects, the narratives, the light, the volume of the gallery space and the theoretical space of the broadcast have been considered less in a traditional curatorial sense, and more as a set of elements in a system following their own orbits.
The work explores intuition in art-making, symmetry of ideas across time and space, and inspiration as a moment of clarity or lunacy within which we briefly connect with the universe. Art is the by-product of the attempt to recapture that elusive clarity perceived in the epiphanic state. There are no ‘artworks’ in this exhibition, instead it is a construction of the energy of potential that precedes an artwork.
‘Oh Lord of men, ‘ replied the sage, ‘he who does not know properly the rules of painting cannot discern the characteristics of images.’
‘Then please narrate the rules of painting,’ replies the King.
‘Without a knowledge of the art of dancing,’ says the sage, ‘the rules of painting are very difficult to understand.’
‘Then please speak to me about the art of dancing…’
‘The practice of dancing cannot be understood by one who is not acquainted with music. Indeed without music, dancing cannot exist at all.’
‘Tell me then first about music…’
‘Without singing, music cannot be understood,’ replied the sage. ‘He who knows the rules of singing knows everything properly.’
Visnudharmottara, c. 6th century
Brown&Brí is our collaborative curatorial and artistic practice. We work with people across artforms and disciplines and are most interested in the intersections where it’s possible for new languages to be invented. We are interested in theatre and staging in art, and the honesty of fiction.
‘And yet it moves’ is in collaboration with Gerry Murphy and Nicholas Boyle.