ARTEZ / Unpackaging performativity

Editorial , Storytelling , Cultura , Educación
A publication commissioned by the Art Academy of Arnhem, with an aim to report through words and images, a two-year research trip on dance, performativity, and public space.

 

The publication showcases the practice of urban dance, its manifestation in public space, making modern dance more accessible to a wider audience, how urban dance is learned, and how it influences ideas and movements. 

This project consisted of a series of workshops for students, conducted by well-known street artists and dancers. The material produced during these sessions was informal texts, conclusions, and philosophical views, along with photographs of the sessions. Commissioned to develop a publication stating the conclusions of this project, we fell short of enough visual materials to illustrate it.

 

As a solution to this, we gathered the materials and elements used during the workshops by the teachers to work with the students and photographed them in new settings. The written texts with conclusions, quotes, and prints of photos of where the artists played, even ropes and cloth pegs used during the workshops became performative items within the book. Giving an intimate insight into the process of making. 

 

 

Capturing the dynamics of the research, the result was a graphically strong publication, used as an inspiring journey in thinking and doing, in and with dance. The use of a stark red evokes electric wave-like energy within the book. Bold use of typography positioned in both horizontal and vertical positions adapts to the dynamic feeling and content. A constant sense of unpredictability experienced in this art form is a feeling reflected within its pages.

 

Créditos:

client: ArtEZ University of Arts / concept & design: Mariola Lopez Mariño, Lopezlab Amsterdam / photography: Mariola Lopez Mariño assisted by Clara Diercks / publisher: ArtEZ Press / lithography: Colour & Books, Apeldoorn/ printing: Tim Beijer Grafische Producties