illuminations of created place
performance-installation
Art Space on The Concourse & The Concourse Outdoor Area, Chatswood
27 January, 29 January, 12 February 2022
Material used for the performance-installation: calico, Wenzhou rice paper, ground up charred wood, music score, gleaned natural material, human hair
About the concept
In this performance-installation, WeiZen attempts to embody the sense of place via the archive of the feet; walking with residents around the local area of Willoughby, considering the history and significance of the sites she was visiting. The actions of her ‘body weathering’ transform the 10m length of materials gleaned from these walks, across three performance sessions.
To be in place, is to connect to the diverse observations, memories and beliefs surrounding that created place. WeiZen engaged the local residents of Willoughby who shared their favourite tracks and places, and this has informed her final performance-installation that is made of, and for, the place of Willoughby. WeiZen believes that walking helps to activate the body memory and can elicit stories not just from the present, but can also serve as pathways to memories in other places. illuminations of created place as a performance-installation is also about the imagination of the beginning, the phenomenon of the first landscape. Her methodology insists on the devising process to be of and for place, where she is attempting to rekindle remembrances and shift our perceptions of time, beyond the accustomed chronometric manner.
illuminations of created place is part of the Willoughby City Council curated exhibition Parallel Wanderings 双 行 游.
Below are images taken by David Brazil and Alan Schacher across the three performance sessions:
Process and Acknowledgement:
illuminations of created place was informed by residents and past residents of the Willoughby Local Government Area through a combination of a newsletter call out titled Walk With Me, and Community Social Media pages:
“Performing Artist and Performance Deviser, WeiZen Ho, would like to invite the residents of Willoughby to take her on a walk in the local area. Participants are encouraged to take her along their favourite route or to local places which are symbolic to them.
These walks with the residents of Willoughby will inform her performance-installation artwork illuminations of created place. The method of walking and sharing with the residents of the area will help the artist to consider the history and significance of the site. WeiZen believes that walking helps to activate the body memory and can elicit stories not just from the present, but can also serve as pathways to memories in other places. What is shared between the artist and the participants will remain private and will assist in devising the process and inform the materials used in her eventual performance-installation that is made of, and for, the place of Willoughby.”
Big thank you to those who shared walks and memories with me, introducing me to aspects of their life journeys, and some breathtaking places in Castlecrag, Northbridge and the area bordering onto Lane Cove National Park: Jocelyn Chey, Ann Wignall, Kathie Najar, Pamela Leung, Rae Bolotin, Michelle Mahrer. We hope to wrap up our walking experience in 2022 with a heritage walk led by an indigenous elder after the end of the Parallel Wanderings exhibition.
sketches for performance-image devising 1
sketches for performance-image devising 2
sketches for performance-image devising 3