We can comprehend the mundane reflexes of our lives and not think them a performance. Birth, digestion, sleep, death – automatic actions, but onto which we lay a plethora of intricacies. Think of the recent death and burial of Queen Elizabeth II. A monarch lying in state. A queue of people parading around a box, waiting in line for hours to witness it. We can also comprehend this majesty and pomp. We are a nation of ritual and eccentricity that borders on the absurd. With this in mind, how do we canonise the power of our bodies? What reverence do we owe to our flesh form? Are our bodies truly a temple?
To introduce us to the space and create a thematic aperitif to the feast that was to come, Site Gallery began with New Gestures. This showcase of performance art took place in early September. On entering the gallery a soft red carpet and an imposing curved wall met us. It was pageantry and resplendence, coiling and leading us towards the amphitheatre of Ladybower by Laura Wilson. This scaffold structure is part forum, part intricate recreation of the sink pools of Ladybower reservoir in the Peak District. It was imposing but also instilled a sense of calm. The murmurs of voices bouncing like the gargling of fresh water on stone. The rivulets and collective streams brought together to channel a higher truth.
Sat amongst the scaffold, we were soon met with a business lectern and deep blue backdrop. The Conference by Harriet Middleton Baker confronted the audience with the idleness of their own rest. The person at the lectern commanded all the power of a religious leader yet harked to the power suit stiffness and normativity of the boardroom. We were to be disenfranchised leaders, seeking answers to the productivity gap. We were here to bear witness to a TED talk but were distracted by two dancers moving with synchronicity across the amphitheatre floor. Each collapsing and reconnecting was carried forward by the haunting ululation of the cello. Part entreaty toward action and part dystopian nightmare. Sleep, like greed, is good.
