Dance to the Muzik of TimeI wish to compose pictures on canvas, sim
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Please click hereions on the stage; and farther hope, that they will be tried by the sa
me test, and criticised by the same criterion... I have endeavoured to treat my subject as a dramatic writer; my picture is my stage, and men and women my players, who by means of certain actions and gestures are to exhibit a dumb showWilliam Hogarth
from Autobiographical Notes, reprinted in Jorg Immendorff's catalogue to 'The Rakes Progress' pub. Barbican, London, 199Study for Lincoln Cathedral 1280 (without dancers).
Work in Progress; In John Goto's new series, set in a toy theatre, dancers are seen restaging key moments in British history. The space reverberates to the implied sound of hip-hop and club music, maybe mixed with medieval litanies and romantic orchestrations. The dancers are dressed anachronistically in period costumes combined with contemporary sports and dancewear. Theatrical backdrops showing cathedrals, monasteries and great country houses, contrast with those depicting motorways, art centres and contemporary life The sets are bathed in intense, colourful light. Commissioned by the Arts Council England, East Midlands, and supported by the University of Derby, the artist was asked to conceive a project that uses professional dancers and iconic locations from the region. Taking as his starting point the development of modern tourism, and its predecessors in the medieval pilgrimage and C18 Grand Tour, Goto plotted a physical route through the region, which also acts as a timeline.The journey begins at Lincoln Cathedral in 1280, with the consecration of St. Hugh's shrine. This was to become the second most popular pilgrimage site in Britain after Canterbury, and many miraculous cures were claimed to have occurred here. The dancers are to be seen parading through the nave holding Hugh's head aloft, whilst others leap through the air, throwing their crutches aside, and the dead rise from the grave. In this stage set Goto strips out the cathedral's modern furnishings and the later West window, returning the interior to its brightly coloured original appearance. Goto adapts the medieval device of showing the interior and exterior simultaneously, thereby disrupting scale and perspective.The proscenium arch which frames this scene is a copy of one designed by John Redington in 1857, held in Derby's Pickford's House Museum, which has a world renowned collection of toy theatres. The 'Redington Large' shows Victorian couples in boxes to either side of the stage, and Shakespeare's head painted on the panel above. Columns from Lincoln form the receding flat wings. The whole scene is bathed in magenta, green and yellow light.Study for Gt Sturton 1348 (without figures). A rich history then unfolds as we visit the plague stricken village of Gt Sturton (1348) in the Lincolnshire Wolds, choreomaniacs dancing outside Southwell Minster (1486), Reformation iconoclasts destroying Newstead Abbey (1539), the newly built south wing at Chatsworth (1667), and child labourers at Cromford Mill (1771). We appear to be returning to the Middle Ages with our next stop at Belvoir Castle, which was redesigned by James Wyatt and John Thoroton in a medieval style, influence by the Romantic movement (1800). Northampton's Market Square is the location for the Bradlaugh Riot (1874), and less than a hundred years later we witness the opening of the M1 motorway (1959). Modern pilgrims are encounted at Diana's memorial temple at Althorp (1997) before we arrive at the new performing arts centre, Curve, in Liecester (2008). Study for Southwell Minster 1486 This work repositions readings of British history within the rich ethnically diverse culture of our own times. By colliding past and present, Goto opens up a dialogue concerning our current social values, and future possibilities. Culture, like history, is seen as a site of contention requiring constant renegotiation. 'Dead history' is revitalised through its restaging within contemporary youth culture. Value judgements regarding high and low culture, past and present, are assuaged and both are presented on an equal platform. Study for Newstead Abbey 1539The nature of digital technology and working methods are reflected on through the conventions of theatre, where space is created through the illusion of vanishing point perspective and side wings framed within a proscenium arch. In Photoshop layers similarly articulate space, acting like transparent cells on which objects can be placed, and moved around like theatre scenery. Disjuncture is intrinsic to both processes, and the suspension of disbelief. Goto emphasises the artificiality of the stage set by shifting viewpoint away from its centre, so that its working mechanisms become visible. The device of using a model theatre, inhabited by real dancers, reflects on the illusory nature of theatrical and digital processes through manipulations of context, space and scale. Study for Chatsworth, South Wing, 1667.The final series will consist of twelve high resolution images (550 mb each). Goto is working with dance groups 'GroundHogs' and 'Manushi' from Nottingham, and 'Desi Masti' from Leicester. Study for Cromford Mill, 1771.Study for Belvoir Castle, 1800.Study for medieval / dance costumesRelated notebook here.