Olga de Soto
Mirages and Displacements
The work of choreographer, dancer and dance researcher Olga de Soto is articulated around two lines of exploration. The first is denoted by long processes of research and documentation related to the history of dance and the analysis of considerations such as the reception and transmission of the discipline — the exhibition Olga de Soto. Reconstruction of a Danse Macabre corresponds to this first line. The second focuses on research into the corporeal memory of the performer, in addition to the relationship between gesture, body and matter — tying in with this second line, this performance programme has been organised by the Museo Reina Sofía to propound a complementary view of the artist’s work.
This performance series by De Soto, in close proximity to that which is termed durational art, takes root in a genealogy of works which, from the 1970s, have challenged the audience to delve deeper into the art of waiting, inviting them to look closer and listen more attentively.
Programa
Paper Lane (2021) is part of Olga de Soto’s performance and durational piece Mirage Displacement (2019), which in turn ensues from displacing another of her works, Mirage (2019), from the theatre stage to the exhibition space. With a sole gesture — the tearing of a ten-metre-long sheet of paper — De Soto creates a fractured space and suspended time of resistance and meditation opposite the speed and noise of our tech-heavy present.
Sessions
Thursday, May – 7pm
Location: Sabatini Building, Floor 4, Antoni Tàpies. The Practice of Art exhibition rooms
Capacity: 40 people
Friday, 10 May – 7pm
Location: Sabatini Building, Floor 2, Room 208.03
Capacity: 40 people
Saturday, 11 May – 7pm
Location: Sabatini Building, Floor 1, Room 102
Capacity: 80 people
This performance draws inspiration both from the criticism of philosopher Hartmut Rosa on the technical and social acceleration that is present in “late modernity” and the work of visual artist Sophie Whettnall, who underscores the materiality of paper and its relationship to nature.
The displacement, accumulation and overlaying of bodies, actions and materials put forward by De Soto serve as a reminder of the different sides to the event that is perpetually evolving and the final duration of which varies depending on the places and contexts of presentation.
The performance takes place in three different rooms in the Museo, engaging in dialogue with works by other artists. De Soto sets forth a transformative encounter between the traumatic action of the slow, continuous tearing in Paper Lane and the materic strokes of Antoni Tàpies, the minimalist phenomenology of Richard Serra and anarchist thought in the late nineteenth century. A temporal, spatial and gestural journey which opens up different readings of the blank page, and which can only take shape in the mental space of each spectator.
Credits
Concept and performance: Olga de Soto, inspired from a gesture by Sophie Whettnall
Plastic element: Olga de Soto
Production and dissemination: Niels Production
Co-production: Niels Production, in collaboration with the Centrale for Contemporary Art, Brussels
Olga de Soto is also supported by the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Service de la danse and Grand Studio, Brussels
Free, until full capacity is reached
Olga de Soto’s Paper Mirage (2021) can be understood as an offshoot of Paper Lane. As with the latter, it alludes to the need for radical deceleration, and paper, reminiscent of the plant world, is once again the material object displaced from the stage to the exhibition space. Sound is also a key component in the work.
Sesions
Thursday, 20 June, 2024 - 6pm and 7:30pm; 30 minutes
Meeting point: Nouvel Building, Floor 1, main entrance
Capacity: 25 people for session
Friday, 21 June, 2024 - 6pm and 7:30pm; 30 minutes
Meeting point: Nouvel Building, Floor 1, main entrance
Capacity: 25 people for session
The action explores the notion of a “sound mirage” as it works with sound as image and memory. Resonant spaces, created by the artist as she shapes, crumples or shakes paper, as well as the electronic amplification of this sound, evoke images of natural environments and events. Once more, it is in the mental space of the audience where the relationship between sound and materiality acquires the capacity to build landscapes, the outcome of memory or imagination.
Credits
Concept and performance: Olga de Soto
Production and dissemination: Niels Production, La Tour à Plomb artist residencies, Charleroi danse and Centre national de la danse
Production manager: Julia Alix
Sound and sound spatialisation: Benoit Pelé and Pierre Gufflet
Olga de Soto is also supported by the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Service de la danse and Grand Studio, Brussels
Meeting point: Nouvel Building, Floor 1, main entrance
25 people
Free, until full capacity is reached
