CONTINGENCY PLANNING
Erin Sexton + Yohei Hamada
Kurant visningsrom, Grønnegata 3, Tromsø
This workshop is a collaboration between Kunstakadmiet i Tromsø and Kurant Visningsrom. There are 6 places reserved for art students and 6 for others from further afield in the university and the general public. Email sign up to ruth.aitken@uit.no or kurantvisningsrom@gmail.com
Contingency Planning is a project initiated by Erin Sexton in collaboration with movement researcher / dance artist Yohei Hamada. Formatted as a workshop, exhibition and happening, it is an open-structure exploration of sci-fi strategies, collective movement and metaphysical sculpture.
Sexton is interested in creating speculative new methods for coping with future anxiety, often via the exploration of perception and dimensionality. Situated within social realities while pushing beyond, her works slide into cracks in control narratives and power structures, seeking to dissolve boundaries and hierarchies.
'Contingency planning' is the act of imagining possible future events, often catastrophic, and figuring out ways to handle them. 'Contingency' is also a term in contemporary philosophy that refers to a state of change and uncertainty, where the foundation of reality is in constant flux, and absolutely anything is possible.
Sexton has created a series of wearable / occupiable sculptures from paracord, tarpaulin, knots, and netting that she considers metaphysical technologies, hybrid tools for basic survival and hyperdimensional experience: Harnesses that grant us new abilities and protect us from harm, doubling as gentle restraints for skepticism. Colourful globular nets to contain, amplify, focus, or deflect energy as needed. Shelters within shelters, topological forms that resonate across manifold dimensions. Hamada brings his extensive knowledge of body structure and movement dynamics to the project, creating a bridge from the physical to the beyond.
Paracord (parachute cord) is a nylon material that was originally developed by the U.S. military. 'Survival bracelets' made of it are now quite the trend. In the event of an emergency, the bracelet can be unravelled and the cord used for whatever is needed. Sexton is working to subvert doomsday prepper culture and militaristic ideology, re-contextualizing this material within her practice as an agent of resistance, healing, and collectivity.
In their 2-day workshop, Sexton and Hamada will lead discussions, strategy sessions, energy experiments, and simple movement exercises with the sculptures. Focus will be on the development of extra-sensory perception and other skills such as knot tying and space-time folding. Live radio noise and ionospheric transmissions will create a sci-fi soundscape, perhaps even an audible manifestation of higher dimensional spaces.
The workshop will take place within the installation at Kurant, Grønnegata 3 on Tuesday 17.03 and Wednesday 18.03 from 16:00 - 20:00. It is open to everyone, but spaces are limited and participants should commit to attending both sessions. The workshop will be held in English, no previous experience is necessary, and diverse perspectives are warmly welcomed. It is free and dinner will be provided mid session on both days.
Please join us on Friday 20.03 for a public vernissage / happening event from 19:00 - 00:00. There will be a performance by the artists at 20:00 and music / live radio throughout the evening. Everyone is welcome to experiment with the works, the bar will be open, and this will very likely turn into some kind of hyperdimensional dance party. The exhibition will also be open to the public on 21.03 and 22.03 (times TBA)
https://www.facebook.com/events/550374472502061/
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ERIN SEXTON (b. 1982) is a Canadian artist based in the forest near Oslo, Norway. Her sculptures and installations involve found objects, tarpaulin, tape, traditional rope work (knots, splices, netting), textiles, and crystallization processes. A sci-fi survivalist narrative runs through her work, exploring alternate paradigms, strange topologies, soft apocalyptics, and speculative cosmologies. She is a licensed amateur radio operator (LB9OH/VE2SXN), using ionospheric transmission for collective ritual and expanded forms of communication. Cross-disciplinary collaboration is central to her practice, which often results in conferences, workshops, and publications.
http://erinsexton.com
YOHEI HAMADA (b. 1987) is a Japanese dance artist and movement researcher based in Bergen, Norway. He develops choreographies concerning time, space, and perception, exploring tensegrity models and evolutionary principles. His research focuses on movement structure, involving collaborators from many different subject fields, using references to embryology, physics, architecture, martial arts and various dance methods.