Emily Huurdeman
egahuurdeman@gmail.com 0031645024248
http://emilyhuurdeman.tumblr.com
PER-FORM
the performative essay and the essayistic performance
Everyone knows what an essay is, or at least everyone think they know what an
essay is. But try to define it and you’re most likely at a loss, because the essay is
notoriously difficult to define. It balances between the artistic and the scientific, the
experiential and the intellectual, it is labeled as an undefinable non-genre. The essay
is experimental and doesn’t fit neatly in pre-defined boxes of genres, just like
performance. Among other things they share a process oriented attitude and
are inherently authorial. Having many characteristics in common, I wondered: can
performance be essayistic? This practice based research investigates the essay and its
connection to performance theoretically, and investigates the essayistic performance
practically. The result in an installation and an online space that which combines the
text of the thesis and video’s.
Emily Huurdeman
Online version of the thesis:
https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/270728/270729
—
"He writes essayistically who writes while experimenting, who turns his object this way and that,
who questions it, feels it, tests it,
thoroughly reflects on it, attacks it from different angles, and in his mind's eye collects what he sees,
and puts into words what the object allows to be seen under the conditions established in the course of writing.”
Max Bense
PER-FROM : overview of the installation
WORKS and TITLES
1) Overweging en heroverweging (Consideration and reconsideration) (live) 2) “Er denk in Brücken, so wie die Realität brüchig ist”
3) Hoofdkussenboek (Pillowbook)
4) Het scheren van de ram (Shaving of the ram) 5) Spanningsveld (Field of tension)
6) Het einde is in het begin (The end is in the beginning) 7) Een dun laagje (A thin layer)
PER-FROM : overview of the artworks
1) Overweging en heroverweging (Consideration and reconsideration) (live)
Performative installation
Materials: Standard, scale, hot plate, IV tube and drip chamber, transparent water hose. 2016
Th drip chamber is connected to a water tab, as a drop falls, it falls on a hot plate which is
connected to the electricity of the complete installation. The hot plate stands on a precision scale that weighs milligrams. As the drop falls on the hot plate every minute, it is measured by scale, you see the drop hitting the plate and slowly the weight going down to zero again.
PER-FROM : overview of the artworks
2) “Er denk in Brücken so wie die Realität bruchig ist”
Time: 05:20 minutes (played continuously)
Link: https://vimeo.com/139986316 2015
This is a quote from T.W. Adorno’s text “Der Essay als Form”, the sentence is constantly changing in translation.
PER-FROM : overview of the artworks
3) Hoofdkussenboek (Pillowbook)
video
time: continuous 2016
You see the impression of a rectangle in a pillow, slowly impressing and then slowly coming back to its old form. The continuous movement reminds of breathing.
PER-FROM : overview of the artworks
4) Het scheren van de ram (Shaving of the ram)
video performance time: 57.05 minutes 2016
A ram is shaved with shaving scissors, you hear the breathing of the ram and the cutting sound of the scissors. In the end the performer takes the wool and lays beside the ram.
PER-FROM : overview of the artworks
5) Spanningsveld (Field of tension)
video performance time: 17.15 minutes 2016
You see two vertical television screens, on each a half of the image, one from the perspective of the raft (left side) the other from the perspective of the dock (right side). The performer attempts to keep the two together by placing one foot on each, in the end the image separate as the performer falls in between the two.
PER-FROM : overview of the artworks
6) Het einde is in het begin (The end is in the beginning)
video performance
time: 01.58 minutes (played continuously) 2016
A line is made on a surface, the performer continuously re-marks the line until the surface arrises in the middle again,
PER-FROM : overview of the artworks
7) Een dun laagje (A thin layer)
video
time: continuous 2016
