GOING UNDER

CLAUDE CATTELAIN, ISABELLE FERREIRA, KOYO HARA, ELIZAVETA KONOVALOVA, PASCAL LIÈVRE, EDITH MAGNAN, RÉGIS PERRAY, MYRIAM OMAR AWADI

A gesture, as simple as it may be, requires a creative process. This is the starting point that contributes, be it physically or otherwise, to the manifestation of thought. As such, it is about setting a body in motion to give shape to an idea, to create an artwork, to labor on the making of a piece. The latin word for labor (opus) can be found within the French word for an artwork (oeuvre) and thereby recalls that effort is required. Naturally, that very notion is also contained within the English term artwork. To create, act, devise, use, all refer to the notion of accomplishing an idea by working on and towards something, to creatively produce (as in the French verb oeuvrer). To labor, to act, to use. In a artisanal, workman or industrial fabrication process, when a recurring motion gets repeated up until exhaustion, it is part and parcel of production. The body is subjected to certain levels of duress; it performs in order to reach an objective and for output and yield. Heeding a pace, performing efficiently, remaining tough and enduring, optimizing gestures, and being productive, the body becomes an instrument, a tool of labor.

Gilles Deleuze, Différence et Répétition, 1968