In 1967, the artist Richard Serra wrote a list of verbs denoting ways of acting on a material object. Roll, fold, bend, shorten, plane, tear, carve, split, cut, slice… Given Serra’s proximity to Yvonne Rainer and Simone Forti, these words can be read in terms of his interest in dance. With Verbmemove, Gregory Stauffer (CH, 1980, based in Bienne and Genève) pays homage to Serra by “performing” each of the 108 verbs in the list.
Sitting explores the act of sitting on the ground, of cataloguing it through performance. The base, the weight, the position, the anchoring, and even the concentric circles that radiate from a sitting body. A manifestation of a body resisting the movement of the world, Sitting celebrates the quiet and subterranean power of the earth and those who are connected to it.
“I reflect on the relationship with the earth and its resources. Raw choreography, the architecture of seating and its play of possibilities. How does our weight move, become dynamic, grow or shrink? What relation to the world, what myths and figures, are invoked and brought to us? Who is sitting on the ground?” G. Stauffer
Gregory Stauffer, Sitting, 2020, performance, Le Commun – Bâtiment d’art contemporain, Geneva, within the framework of the exhibition Dance First Think Later – Rencontre entre danse et arts visuels. Photo: Emmanuelle Bayart / Arta Sperto
Gregory Stauffer, Sitting, 2020, performance, Le Commun – Bâtiment d’art contemporain, Geneva, within the framework of the exhibition Dance First Think Later – Rencontre entre danse et arts visuels. Photo: Emmanuelle Bayart / Arta Sperto
Gregory Stauffer, Sitting, 2020, performance, Le Commun – Bâtiment d’art contemporain, Geneva, within the framework of the exhibition Dance First Think Later – Rencontre entre danse et arts visuels. Photo: Emmanuelle Bayart / Arta Sperto
Gregory Stauffer, Sitting, 2020, performance, Le Commun – Bâtiment d’art contemporain, Geneva, within the framework of the exhibition Dance First Think Later – Rencontre entre danse et arts visuels. Photo: Emmanuelle Bayart / Arta Sperto
Gregory Stauffer, Sitting, 2020, performance, Le Commun – Bâtiment d’art contemporain, Geneva, within the framework of the exhibition Dance First Think Later – Rencontre entre danse et arts visuels. Photo: Emmanuelle Bayart / Arta Sperto
Gregory Stauffer, Sitting, 2020, performance, Le Commun – Bâtiment d’art contemporain, Geneva, within the framework of the exhibition Dance First Think Later – Rencontre entre danse et arts visuels. Photo: Emmanuelle Bayart / Arta Sperto
Sitting, 2020
25th – 27th August, 2020
DANCE FIRST THINK LATER– An encounter between dance and visual arts, Arta Sperto, Geneva
Choreography and acting: Gregory Stauffer
External eye and presence: Sonja Jokiniemi
Administration: ARhythmia, Marianne Caplan, Artemisia Romano
Production: Cie le Cabinet des Curiosités