Invisible Knowledge Other Spaces

Artist talk and screening event introduced by curator Tiffany Boyle, who will respond to Adelita Husni-Bey’s videowork ‘After the Finish Line’ presented as part of Forms of Action. Working with a group of young athletes who have sustained injuries – a swimmer, a gymnast, a sprinter – the work through dialogue seeks to de-individualise the feelings of failure expressed by the young athletes, asking questions around success, competition, pain, and the limits of the body. The response from Tiffany Boyle will be guided by film clips and the visual culture of gymnastics.

Artist Jo Longhurst has since 2008 produced an on-going body of work ’Other Spaces,’ which explores through gymnastics ideas of perfection and bodily movement, the shape of personal and national identities, as well as social and political systems. Initially focusing on the physical and emotional experiences of elite gymnasts, her work takes form through photography, video, performance and installation. The artist will also discuss her 2015 Rio de Janeiro residency, during which she worked with the Vila Olímpica da Mangueira rhythmic gymnastics social project in the production of new work. The Manguiera favela, prominently situated alongside a concrete highway and the Brutalist Maracanã stadium, is home to the famous Samba School from which Rio’s carnival originated, and also the site of Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticia’s 1960s experimental Parangolés. Accompanying this talk will be an excerpt of the artist’s 2012 filmwork ‘Present,’ followed by a Q&A. Supported by Horsecross Arts.