Gestures (2018) is a body of work that combines both photography and interpretive dance practice to create a record of duration, motion and light. Working in collaboration with Viola Iida, a Sydney-based contemporary dancer, Ben Robinson’s ‘Gestures’ responds to both light, space and movement within the Gaffa galleries through both photographic and moving image pieces.
Gestures(2018) is a body of work that combines both photography and interpretive dance practice to create a record of duration, motion and light. Working in collaboration with Viola Iida, a Sydney-based contemporary dancer, Ben Robinson’s ‘Gestures’responds to both light, space and movement within the Gaffa galleries through both photographic and moving image pieces.
The works portray a series of spontaneous movements and gestures made by Viola and documented through the lens of multiple cameras from opposing angles. An LED lighting circuit was strapped to defining parts of her body, allowing the camera to both record and abstract her motions throughout the process. The resulting photographs offer a fingerprint of duration inherent to the transitory movements throughout which the gestures were documented.
A moving image piece depicts Iida in live motion, but the bokehfocusing method limits each gesture to simply blurs of light. Ben collaborated Amsterdam-based music producer Oscar Jones to create an ambient soundtrack aimed at mesmerizing and absorbing the viewer’s attention towards the erratic yet timeless gestures performed by the subject.
Ben Robinson is an emerging artist currently based in Sydney, Australia. His developing practice concerns the many facets of the human condition, utilising photography and moving-image to create new methods of formulating connections to movement, space and time. In 2017 Ben completed his Bachelor of Design in Photography and Situated Media (Honours) at the University of Technology, Sydney. This is his first solo exhibition.
Special thanks to assistant cinematographer Max Bouda and install guru Adam Spencer.
Gestures(2018) is a body of work that combines both photography and interpretive dance practice to create a record of duration, motion and light. Working in collaboration with Viola Iida, a Sydney-based contemporary dancer, Ben Robinson’s ‘Gestures’responds to both light, space and movement within the Gaffa galleries through both photographic and moving image pieces.
The works portray a series of spontaneous movements and gestures made by Viola and documented through the lens of multiple cameras from opposing angles. An LED lighting circuit was strapped to defining parts of her body, allowing the camera to both record and abstract her motions throughout the process. The resulting photographs offer a fingerprint of duration inherent to the transitory movements throughout which the gestures were documented.
A moving image piece depicts Iida in live motion, but the bokehfocusing method limits each gesture to simply blurs of light. Ben collaborated Amsterdam-based music producer Oscar Jones to create an ambient soundtrack aimed at mesmerizing and absorbing the viewer’s attention towards the erratic yet timeless gestures performed by the subject.
Ben Robinson is an emerging artist currently based in Sydney, Australia. His developing practice concerns the many facets of the human condition, utilising photography and moving-image to create new methods of formulating connections to movement, space and time. In 2017 Ben completed his Bachelor of Design in Photography and Situated Media (Honours) at the University of Technology, Sydney. This is his first solo exhibition.
Special thanks to assistant cinematographer Max Bouda and install guru Adam Spencer.
