A TROUPE of puppets get their clumsy fingers onto a packet of cigarettes and some matches: Puppets + Fire = Trouble. Within minutes, 2-Dimensional Life of Her, a paper based show, roars up in flames. Projected flames, I should say. Black and white turns to colour and boy is the illusion powerful; I sat nervously eying the piles of paper strewn about the set, lest two dimensions leapt into a third. Concealing its own virtuosity with a beguiling improvised feel, this exceptional show explores the labyrinthine space between images.
2-Dimensional Life of Her is the creation of Australian artist Fleur Elise Noble. Using multiple projections, Noble lets the audience in on the world of her studio. While it’s sophisticated in its questioning, the show does not lose the ‘work in progress’ feel of the artist in her private space with her materials. The projected Noble rebels against 2-D existence by walking around the studio with a mop and bucket; with simple but effective sound design, we follow her footsteps as she traverses the empty space between screens. Traditional rectangles are not the norm here; the screens onto which the show’s live action films, animations, pen drawings, and puppets are projected are irregular and layered. One surface is a cut out of Noble, another is a table covered in studio disorder (including a wine bottle and glass), while a third undulates – the paper momentarily held up by a live actor (Erica Field, Noble’s collaborator).
Projected Noble works hard; the mop isn’t just for show. When she scrubs a surface, a new image is uncovered. The show explores the possibilities of perception and the Projected Noble works hard; the mop isn’t just for show. When she scrubs a surface, a new image is uncovered. The show explores the possibilities of perception and the chimerical nature of images. A determined puppet repeatedly rips through a sheet of paper. Quizzical and slightly superior, he stares down the audience, seeming to ask us what we are doing looking at him. Another puppet with a concussion-wish dips his head in ink and creates portraits by beating his head against paper. Each smackdown produces a different line drawing. The process of creating an image can be violent, it seems. In addition to the projection of multiple media, live theatrical incursions – which varied in the two performances I went to - remind you of the show’s real time setting. Like the sound design, the live bodies draw the images into the space, stretching the frame of visual art.
2-Dimensional Life of Her is the creation of Australian artist Fleur Elise Noble. Using multiple projections, Noble lets the audience in on the world of her studio. While it’s sophisticated in its questioning, the show does not lose the ‘work in progress’ feel of the artist in her private space with her materials. The projected Noble rebels against 2-D existence by walking around the studio with a mop and bucket; with simple but effective sound design, we follow her footsteps as she traverses the empty space between screens. Traditional rectangles are not the norm here; the screens onto which the show’s live action films, animations, pen drawings, and puppets are projected are irregular and layered. One surface is a cut out of Noble, another is a table covered in studio disorder (including a wine bottle and glass), while a third undulates – the paper momentarily held up by a live actor (Erica Field, Noble’s collaborator).
Projected Noble works hard; the mop isn’t just for show. When she scrubs a surface, a new image is uncovered. The show explores the possibilities of perception and the Projected Noble works hard; the mop isn’t just for show. When she scrubs a surface, a new image is uncovered. The show explores the possibilities of perception and the chimerical nature of images. A determined puppet repeatedly rips through a sheet of paper. Quizzical and slightly superior, he stares down the audience, seeming to ask us what we are doing looking at him. Another puppet with a concussion-wish dips his head in ink and creates portraits by beating his head against paper. Each smackdown produces a different line drawing. The process of creating an image can be violent, it seems. In addition to the projection of multiple media, live theatrical incursions – which varied in the two performances I went to - remind you of the show’s real time setting. Like the sound design, the live bodies draw the images into the space, stretching the frame of visual art.
Multimedia works can get caught up in their many strands, end up amorphous. Not so with 2-Dimensional Life of Her. The show’s various modes coalesced into a performance that had formal power. Original is an overused word, but this was. I saw the show twice. The first time at an architect’s studio on Egmont St and the second in Toi Whakaari’s large basement space. In the latter venue the diffuseness of the audience and the size of the space didn’t quite recreate the immersion of the first performance.
My Response
great use of projection , lighting , sound.
the audience was made active by the use of all these mediums rather than passive.
by using more than 5 projectors the audience was never sure where the action was going to take place next.
What inspired me about this piece for our performance is that we can use the projection of images and video to disrupt the traditional audience/actor relationship.
Davina and I discussed of pre- recorded material that not only operates a set i.e still of space that we interact with, but also film ourselves and project ourselves into the space ( on cardboard cut outs) as well as being physically present in the space as well.
This multiplicity would continually shift the focus for the audience and also expand our presence in the space.
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