A swamp-green woman, chain dangling from nose, presses her hands, then face, against a glass panel in the middle of the room.
A smudge appears; then another. And, all the while, a throbbing bass resounds: abstract noises, distorted, increasing in intensity.
There are ten painted models – both male and female – in the ‘cast’ at this new three-month long Zabludowicz show, but only two travel, with slow, deliberate movements, between the rooms at any one time (although all were out in force at last night’s launch).
Buttocks-and-breasts bare, encased in the lightest of bodystockings, they perform strange rituals, climb a three-storey structure, and interact with paint-splashed canvases in the back room.
Their faces remain mournful, glum even; sometimes eyes close in silent protest against visitors’ endlessly clicking iPhones. This is all, of course, #Instagold.
Entitled SCAR CYMBALS (yes, the capitals are essential apparently), it’s the first ever performance-led solo exhibition in the Zabludowicz Collection’s near-decade of existence – and the work of Chicago-born Donna Huanca.
And the performances – which somehow define the word immersive – are surreal, mesmerising.
The characters move glacially: now they’re lying down, arm over head, now they’re squatting, now they’re writhing against a wall, watching us watching them. Somewhere in the building incense burns, reminding us of its original usage as chapel.
On a practical note, the models use fresh stockings and repaint themselves every day; a hanging sculpture composed of the discarded items can be seen to the right of the main room, which will build up over the course of the three months.
But what’s it all about? Naturally, the body and in particular the skin, says Huanca.
“It’s simultaneously the surface on which our ‘personhood’ is inscribed,” she says, “and the surface through which we experience the world around us.”
And yet it’s so much more. Or perhaps less.
Or whatever: the beauty of this free show on Prince Of Wales Road is that it really can be appreciated on any level.
