From Transgression to Transcription
Performative and site-specific Installation at the Stadtgalerie Schwaz Tirol, 2009
"From Transgression to Transcription" was originally the name of an article I wrote for Internet Magazine Corpus in 2008 describing the genealogy of my work.
Inspired by this article, I decided to appropriate the main exhibition room of Stadtgalerie Schwaz – as if it were an empty canvas or empty sheet of paper –
to display all the thoughts and ideas behind the artwork exhibited in the other rooms of the gallery.
Following my recent projects, I attached the spy camera to my chest and connected it to a monitor while I drew and wrote on the floor of the gallery with markers. The camera followed my body movements, the cables, and the objects I used to write and draw. The spy camera also mapped the space and registered the traces left by my actions. A second camera was placed on a tripod and in front of the monitor. The resulting video is a combination of interesting image effects and reflections of everything in the space, including my own body.
Lastly, the space of the gallery became the catalogue of the show: Through writings, lines and sketches, I guide the gallery’s visitors to comprehending how my work shifted from an intense investigation of my own body into looking at other bodies, the discovery of theory as essential for my practice, as well as the experiments with different languages and media.
With this work I pose questions regarding the accuracy of art spaces and the connections between spatiality and corporeality. The gallery was used as a space for working, for showing both the process and the product of actions. The space initially composed by traces left by the artist slowly changed with the presence of the visitors. Footprints and blurred marks reconfigured the installation visually and its meanings: Whereas some information was reinforced, “carried along” as stamps through the space, others were “carried away” and vanished.
Roberta Lima
Following my recent projects, I attached the spy camera to my chest and connected it to a monitor while I drew and wrote on the floor of the gallery with markers. The camera followed my body movements, the cables, and the objects I used to write and draw. The spy camera also mapped the space and registered the traces left by my actions. A second camera was placed on a tripod and in front of the monitor. The resulting video is a combination of interesting image effects and reflections of everything in the space, including my own body.
Lastly, the space of the gallery became the catalogue of the show: Through writings, lines and sketches, I guide the gallery’s visitors to comprehending how my work shifted from an intense investigation of my own body into looking at other bodies, the discovery of theory as essential for my practice, as well as the experiments with different languages and media.
With this work I pose questions regarding the accuracy of art spaces and the connections between spatiality and corporeality. The gallery was used as a space for working, for showing both the process and the product of actions. The space initially composed by traces left by the artist slowly changed with the presence of the visitors. Footprints and blurred marks reconfigured the installation visually and its meanings: Whereas some information was reinforced, “carried along” as stamps through the space, others were “carried away” and vanished.
Roberta Lima
Pictures of performance by Melissa Lumbroso
Video stills by Roberta Lima
Exhibition photos by Rainer Igler
Video stills by Roberta Lima
Exhibition photos by Rainer Igler
artist talk
24.10.2009 at 20:00
Roberta Lima talks with artist Eva Schlegel and the architect Carl Pruscha about the exhibition.
24.10.2009 at 20:00
Roberta Lima talks with artist Eva Schlegel and the architect Carl Pruscha about the exhibition.
