Electric Spinning Gaze

Katja Davar examines with »Electric Spinning Gaze« the theme of metamorphosis on stage as well as in nature through the processes of folding and unfolding, the opening and closing of wings, thus embracing the inseparability of ­culture and nature. Her starting point is an ex­a­mination of the Serpentine Dance by American dancer, choreo­grapher and inventor Loïe Fuller (1862–1928), who, shortly before the advent of film, developed abstract choreographies with sweeping silk costumes, colorful lighting, and ­projections with the Laterna Magica. In Katja ­Davar’s project, that oscilates between natural motion and digital illusion, the silk fabric becomes a dynamic projection surface, captured by a high-speed ­camera that seems to evoke artistic studies of light and color, along with the poetic literature of that period. A series of large-format abstract pencil drawings – inspired by Matthias Grünewald’s garment studies from around 1511 – complements the film material and stages figures in which the contorted plissés seem to have replaced the human body. Annelie Pohlen writes in a review in »Kunstforum« (8/2019): »This undoubtedly frees the stage for a subversive role-play of the ­female gender. The most brilliant aspect of this production, however, is Davar’s complex pulverization of all formal and content-related attributions.«

Exhibitions:
Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl, 16/6–22/9/2019
Kunstverein Heilbronn, 18/10–29/11/2020