BREATHING MONSTER is a joint presentation by Performance Space and National Art School which opened at the Cell Block Theatre on Friday, 14th June.
This performance is a challenging work. It attempts to connect to the audience’s visceral responses through a minimalist visual aesthetic being ruptured by a dissonant soundscape.
The promoters have described BREATHING MONSTER as a performance of abstract and hypnotic movement, set to a soundscape created and manipulated by Kasper Toeplitz on an electric bass. It is part of SWITCHED ON, Performance Space’s new season of four projects that explore our physical and personal relationship to technology.
The performance opened with Myriam Gourfink sitting on the edge of a ten metre catwalk as a soft, deep rumbling bass welled up and engulfed the space. It was as if the fantastic old sandstone walls of the Cell Block Theatre (part of the old Darlinghurst gaol) were releasing intrinsic vibrations. Kasper Poeplitz’s electric bass is processed through a computer to create what he refers to as “data-noise” so what starts as a deep haunting bass tone transformed into a discordant, grating soundscape.
As the sound progressed Myriam Gourfink started her painstakingly slow movements along the catwalk. It was not an orthodox dance performance but more akin to a living sculpture, reminiscent of slow motion yoga or a Pilates exercise. She created some sublime abstract forms with her body that were very human and simultaneously very animalistic, as she deliberately and gracefully folded and unfolded her limbs and contorted and moved her body.
Myriam’s black body suit was highlighted and enhanced by the high overhead lights, four at the rear of the stage and three halfway down each side of the hall. At each end of the catwalk there was a single fluorescent tube, defining the physical performance space and linked to Kasper by uplighting his guitar and computer by a single fluorescent tube on the floor.
BREATHING MONSTER has a short season, closing Sunday 16th June. Details can be viewed at www.performancespace.com.au