Vital Capacity

 Dec. 15 2017- March 15 2018

Vital Capacity, The Ferry Gallery

15 DECEMBER 2017 - 15 MARCH 2018
VENUE: THA TIEN PIER & WAT ARUN PIER

GALLERIES NIGHT BY THE FRENCH EMBASSY
9 FEBRUARY 2018 (7.30 PM - 10.30 PM) 

Vital Capacity explores the idea of internal and external control by creating and breaking restraints. Play and composure become tools to explore policies of conduct and ordinary power. Social pacts are questioned through uncomfortably tight spaces, unexplainable repetition and absurd circumstances. Calling to question whether rules are being imposed, invented or upheld, curiosity compels us to play along.

In Grass' ‘Mirror Therapy (Sterilized)’, a gloved, disembodied hand experiences alternating conditions of grass inside a sterile acrylic box. The stage is set outdoors on a Wee-Wee Pad (a popular American training tool for housebreaking dogs). Loosely referencing the mirror box, invented by Vilayanur S. Ramachandran to cure phantom limb pain in amputee patients, the sterile, gloved hand blindly caresses its boxed in surroundings. Perhaps it is searching for a severed identity. In lieu of mirror, there is Grass.

In Ecker's ‘Zero-Sometimes’ the rules of rock, paper, scissors (which dates to the Chinese Hang Dynasty) are warped. Using simple tools of distraction through nail accoutrement, the same set of hands continuously show up to battle against themselves in varying masquerade. The opponent becomes the antagonist with seemingly no end in sight. The competition’s bearing and point come into question, leaving only an arbitrary game to be lost in and laugh at. Unwieldy and ornamental patterns are created, reminiscent of sequencing string games, in ‘Cradle’. Contemplative movements create a kaleidoscope of uncomfortable configurations. Musing forms are created as echos to time spent as reflections reliant on mirrors for answers.