Performance
Dora García, Two Planets Have Been Colliding for Thousands of Years
A Tale of A Tub, Space for contemporary art and culture
Justus van Effenstraat 44, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Dora García’s durational performance Two Planets Have Been Colliding for Thousands of Years is the result of a conversation between the artist, Andrea Valdés and Manuel Asín in which the image of two planets colliding for thousands of years until they became one emerged. For Dora García, this image was a perfect description of the relationship between poetry and philosophy. The artist borrowed this idea and turned it into the setting for an extremely simple and contemplative performance, one with no fixed duration, no clear beginning or end.
The work consists of a space on the ground that is defined by two non-concentric circles (the planets). The outer circle is painted white and inside it lays the other circle, an off-centred hole. Two people with some physical similarity stand in each of the circles they agree on a distance and they lock their gazes, keeping eye-contact all along the performance. Each gesture, each change in the position of one of them, will be replicated by the other to continue maintaining the initial distance. Neither of the performers can step on the territory of the other. The strength of the work lies in its simplicity. It all comes down to the intimate exchange between the performers. The observation of the two figures orbiting slowly and silently in their circles, this kind of mandala or spiritual geometric arena that facilitates concentration, can also be a meditative experience for the viewer.
Across a multifaceted body of work, Dora García challenges the traditional relationships between artworks and spectators within the exhibition space. The artist’s scenarios combine fiction and reality to the point of confusion to create unique situations that are both intellectual and playful, which rely on an active, and sometimes obligatory, participation of the public in the creation, activation, or destruction of the work. Two Planets Have Been Colliding for Thousands of Years orginates from the Kerenidis Pepe Collection.
This durational performance is part of the exhibition:
Beyond a Certain Point There Is No Return
Curated by: Katia Krupennikova
