If I Can’t Dance presents a performance programme with Will Holder, Judith Hopf, Maria Pask & Esther de Vlam, Sarah Pierce, and Haegue Yang at de Appel arts centre as part of Episode 2 of Edition II.
The Birds And The Bees by Maria Pask and Esther de Vlam
A discussion about the birds and the bees may involve, according to the artists, “…references to nature and reproduction without actually describing human biology or providing any useful insight.” The Birds And The Bees tells of Twinkle’s, Seed’s, Good’s and Ready’s clumsy and inept attempts to understand their roles as independent women of the world. Composed around three acts: ‘exposure’, ‘interpretation’ and ‘confrontation’, they each follow a set of moves that chart various behavioural patterns used to equip oneself in the development from exposed single cell to member of an aggressive collective chain.
Maria Pask and Esther de Vlam developed for this performance props, music and a choreography, executed by five dancers: Vela Arbutina, Melanie Bonajo, Carolin Reichert, Tania Theodorou, and Marianne Viero. Percussion: Simon de Swaaf.
Storage Piece by Haegue Yang
Context, history, visibility, object, space: these are all familiar and reoccurring words that structure the vocabulary of art production and reception. They are the ‘vessels’ waiting for meaning and value, created by artists, recognized and/or assigned as such by writers and beholders.
“Woman: Let’s take one metal rack here, a product from a company called ‘Otto Kind’. They have developed an industrial module rack system. Quite nice I think. You can assemble them together without any additional tools. Visually they look nice, and I believe they do not look pretentious at all. Super nice material, reasonable priced.”
By means of a dialogue between a man and a woman, Haegue Yang oscillates between abstract ideas on art and the sheer practice of producing it, rumbling through the dense field where (historical) consciousness and (personal) experience meet, and where one wants to find a voice to speak, a place where one is listened to.
Concept and text by Haegue Yang, performed by Sarah Vanhee and Art-Jan de Vries.