Hussein Chalayan : Gravitacioni zamor u Sadlers Velsu
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Brzi niz plesnih slika angažovanih telom i bestelesnošću, migracijom i raseljavanjem, uz laganu satiru na modu i umetnost: u pitanju je Gravity Fatigue, jedinstvena plesna predstava Huseina Šalajana (Hussein Chalayan), koja je u potpunosti koncipirana oko (ne)nosivih odevnih predmeta.
Naslov predstave proizilazi iz dizajnerove mantre – mislim na gravitaciju kao na valutu za percepciju stvarnosti. Šta to uopste znači? Postoji li razmenska vrednost gravitacije? Može li neko (čak i najbolji plesači) ikada sagledati stvarnost bez učešća gravitacije?
Nije toliko komplikovano. Neminovnost gravitacije je samo jedan od motiva koje Šalajan istražuje u svojoj dugogodišnjoj karijeri. Druga interesovanja – kao što je koncept bestelesnosti u raznim kulturama, posledice migracija, izolacija, polnost, vera, jezik, digitalni mediji, tehnologija i značenje jastva – su koncepti i teme kojima se stalno vraća i koji su kroz Gravity Fatigue pretvoreni u pokret.
Osamnaest plesnih scena, brzih kao modne mini-kolekcije, smenjuju se tokom 75 minuta uz pratnju preglasne ‘zvučne ilustracije’ MODE-F, sound dizajnera koji aranžiraju zvuk na modnim revijama. Sekvence je osmislio i režirao Šalajan, ali ideje su u koreografiju pretočili igrači i belgijski koreograf Damijen Žale (Damien Jalet), inače poznat po saradnji sa Marinom Abramović i Rikardom Tiskijem, kreativnim direktorom modne kuće Gucci. Predstava je naivna ako se gleda isključivo kao avangardni plesni komad, ali je interesantna kao dizajnersko-modni eksperiment fokusiran na telo i pokret.
Dete kiparskih Turaka koji su sedamdesetih emigrirali iz Nikozije, Husein Šalajan je oduvek posedovao praktično interesovanje za kompaktnu odeću koja se može lako poneti u slučaju potrebe, kao i u simboličko značenje investirano u odevne predmete. Moda kao koncept u koji dizajner pohranjuje izvesna ograničenja i mogućnosti formira jezgro svih njegovih prethodnih kolekcija (posebno napr. Aftervords iz 2000-e, ili diplomski rad Burka, 1996) tako da je logično što im se vraća i u ovim plesnim sekvencama.
U sekvenci Millionaire Dance plesačice obučene u nikab (muslimanski ženski veo koji obavija celo telo) se nesputano praćakaju u bazenu punom gumenih loptica; Body Split posmatra tela podeljena na dva dela: dok donji deo tela slobodno i lepršavo igra, torzo je ograničen prslukom za spasavanje koji ga istovremeno i čuva i parališe. Gravitacija kao tok, kao mogućnost fizičke razmene, napetosti i uzročno-posledičnih efekata, testira se tokom čitave predstave: tkanina koja okružuje tela plesača postaje trambulina, praćka, katapult. Površine koje obično percipiramo kao čvrste (kao što je pod scene ili površina stola) se otkrivaju kao elastične. Elastic Bodies senzualno opisuje odnose dva tela kroz rastezljivu uzajamnost i međuzavisnost njihovog kretanja, dok Omnipresence napušta i odevno i fizičko prisustvo uopšte: izvođači se skidaju goli i tekstiraju međusobno na sceni.
Word Dictators reflektira raniju Šalajanovu instalaciju Frozen Monologues (2013) – jednostavnu providnu udlagu namenjenu blaziranom slušanju sagovornika, bez stvarnog angažovanja sa onim što on ili ona govori. “Provodimo pola života slušajući druge”, kaze dizajner na svom sajtu. “Postajemo zarobljenici nečije beskrajne potrebe da govore o sebi, što rezultira kulturom neispunjenih odnosa gde monolozi smenjuju dijaloge”. Medjutim, Word Dictators aludira i na konkretni momenat iz sveta umetnosti: duga, jednobojna haljina i tamna pletenica neumitno asociraju na performans Artist is Present Marine Abramović. Da li je i ona stoga diktator reči, njegova žrtva ili samo modni uzor? I dok igrači polako tonu u svoje elastične stolove, izdvojenu figuru na sceni ispred njih njena lepa haljina napada i guši. Jesu li to njene neizgovorene reči, njena pojava, status, godine, pol?
Najmaštovitija sekvenca, Arrival of Departure, je eksplozija centrifugalnih pokreta propraćenih zvucima poletanja aviona, gde se plesači vrte kao derviši dok se na njima tamni kaputi transformišu u sjajne odore od krupnih šljokica. Nažalost, Šalajan to objašnjava prilično banalno: “Ako pažljivo gledate, u kapute su ugradjeni svi dodaci. Ideja je bila da ne možete otići od svoje imovine, tako da nema pravog odlaska i dolaska.” Šteta. Scena je puno lepša kao maštoviti ples superheroja.
Nude Catwalk, sekvenca tokom koje plesačice pokrivene čaršafima kruže kao manekenke, uz naratorku koja najavljuje nevidljivu meta-modnu kolekciju (“moda pedesetih viđena očima devedesetih”) prikazuje carevo novo odelo: od tela (i od svih najavljenih kolekcija) su vidljive samo lepo oblikovane noge. Scena podseća na fotografije legendarnog nadrealiste Gaj Bordina (Guy Bourdin) gde bestelesne noge paradiraju ulicama – slika koju je 1979 dizajner Šarl Žurdan (Charles Jourdin) iskoristio kao reklamu za cipele. Moda kao da ne može a da ne parafrazira i imitira sopstvene cikluse.
Papirna haljina, navodno Šalajanov izum (iako su papirne haljine zapravo doživele procvat 1960-tih kao nosivi politički pamfleti i simboli seksualnog oslobođenja) se pojavljuje u formi avionske koverte u segmentu Delayed Presence. Ogoljena od potencijala i kolorita šezdesetih, kada je ironija raspoloživosti tela i sadržaja dostigla svoj vrhunac (napr. haljina od novina koju je nosila Tvigi, aludirajući na život od danas do sutra), Delayed Presence je anemični, prazni šablon, lice koji trazi pisca. Plesačicu-lutku oblači i svlači par asistenata, kao da nema ni trun sopstvene volje, pre nego što haljina sama odleprša žičarom, pretpostavljamo prema svom novom životu u luksuznim odmaralištima i enklavama bogatih kupaca.
Gravity Fatigue nije komad koji će osavremeniti ples niti postaviti nova i ozbiljna pitanja o društvu, etici ili modi. Ali je zabavan. Možda baš zato što je nemoguće istovremeno zadovoljiti visoke standarde umetničke i plesne publike i ostati dosledan pozivu dizajnera, Gravity Fatigue zabavlja svojim lakim instagramskim šarmom. Teške savremene teme, kao sto su masovna raseljavanja ili opresija žena svedene su na dvostrane jakne, papirne haljinice i zabave kraj bazena. Gravity Fatigue je u Sadler’s Wells-u od 28. do 31. oktobra 2015, posle čega kreće na međunarodnu turneju.
Hussein Chalayan : Gravity Fatigue
Fast sequence of dance tableaux dealing with body and disembodiment, migration, displacement and some humourous satirical nods to fashion and high art: Hussain Chalayan packs his life’s observations in Gravity Fatigue, unique dance performance in Sadler’s Wells, choreographed entirely around (un)wearable garments.
The title comes from the self-constructed mantra by the designer – think of gravity as a currency for perception of reality. What does it mean? That there is an exchange value of gravity? Can anyone (even the most accomplished dancers) ever really perceive reality without gravity?
It never gets that complicated. The inevitability of gravity, as it turns out, is just one of the notions that the designer examines in this ongoing work. His other interests, such as disembodiment and its perception in different cultures, migration and its consequences, displacement, isolation, gender, religion, language, digital media, technology and the meaning of selfhood, are all name-checked throughout his career and presented via spatial movement in Gravity Fatigue.
Eighteen dance tableaux, fast-paced like capsule collections over 75 minutes, are accompanied by the catwalk-pitch ‘sound illustration’ from MODE-F, who design soundtracks for fashion shows. The tableaux are conceived and directed by Chalayan, but it was up to the dancers and the Belgian choreographer Damien Jalet – who has previously collaborated with Givenchy creative director Ricardo Tisci and artist Marina Abramovic – to morph his ideas into a dance. This is why the piece remains naïve and bitty as a dance performance, but ultimately interesting as an experiment focused on the body.
A child of Turkish Cypriot migrants, Hussain Chalayan has always shown pragmatic interest in compact, versatile clothes that one can easily take along, but also in the variability of meanings projected in those precious few symbolic items. Clothes as ideas that harbour restrictions and possibilities have formed the core of his previous fashion collections (esp. Afterwords, 2000, or his graduation piece Burka, 1996) so it makes sense that we see those ideas echoed in the dance sequences.
In Millionaire Dance, dancers dressed in niqabs bounce merrily in a pool of rubber balls; in Body Split, their bodies appear divided in two: the lower parts of their body dance freely underneath what looks like stiff flight vests that constrain their torsos with imposed safety. Gravity as flow, physical exchange, tension and cause-and-effect is tested throughout: textiles become a trampoline, a sling, a catapult. Surfaces usually perceived as hard (such as the ground or the table) reveal hidden bendiness (in Gravity Fatigue or Word Dictators). Elastic Bodies viscerally describe sticky relationships through stretchy mutuality and interdependence of movement, while Omnipresence leaves behind both clothes and physical presence as performers strip naked and commence texting each other on stage.
Word Dictators echoes Chalayan’s art installation Frozen Monologues (2013), in which the designer has created a transparent cast for listening without actually engaging – ‘We spend half of our lives listening to other people. We can become prisoners of others endless need of talking about themselves. As a result there is a culture of unfulfilled relationships emerging as dialogues are being replaced by monologues’. But it’s impossible not to see the echoes of a specific art moment different coded via the dancers’ monochrome dresses and the unmistakable dark pleat of hair: that of Marina Abramović in Artist is Present. Is Word Dictators mocking Abramović’s presence or simply taking cue from her fashion sense? As dancers slowly sink into elastic tables while ‘listening’, another figure experiences a moment where her dress (her appearance? Social status? Her age?) rebels against her.
The most joyful sequence, Arrival of Departure, in which dancers’ coats turn inside out in a wild centrifugal dervish whirl to reveal shiny sequined bodies underneath to the loud hum of airplane engines, is explained glibly by the designer: ‘If you look at it carefully all the coats have all the accessories in built. The idea was that you are not departing from your possessions, therefore you aren’t leaving.’ This is a shame. I preferred them as mad superheroes.
Nude Catwalk, with mannequins rotating to the voiceover that announces meta-collections (‘fifties seen through the eyes of the nineties’) depict bodies that are completely covered in white sheaths, leaving only shapely legs on the parade. This reminded me of the legendary surrealist photographer Guy Bourdin’s disembodied mannequin legs used in the 1979 Charles Jourdin shoe ad. It’s in the nature of fashion to keep paraphrasing and parroting itself.
A paper dress, allegedly one of Chalayan’s ‘inventions’ (in fact, paper dresses blossomed in the 1960s as wearable political propaganda and symbols of sexual liberation) makes its appearance as an airmail dress in Delayed Presence. Stripped of the 60s colourful potential, where the irony of disposability of both body and content was not lost on its wearer (Twiggy notoriously walked in a newspaper print dress which had the life expectancy of a chip wrapper), Delayed Presence sees the dancer dressed and undressed by the assistants as if she has no will of her own, before her dress flies away in a makeshift ski lift, presumably to its new life in resorts and enclaves of the rich customers.
Gravity Fatigue will not reinvent dance, tackle social issues or challenge the ethos of fashion design. But it’s all good fun. Perhaps because Chalayan is usually depicted as an intellectual, or because it’s tall order to satisfy the art and dance crowd while staying true to your craft as a designer, Gravity Fatigue pleases with its Instagram likeability, where some potentially dark contemporary concepts and civilisational issues, such as mass migration and displacement or oppression of women, result in desirable reversible jackets, airmail dresses and silly pool parties. Gravity Fatigue is showing at Sadler’s Wells from 28 to 31 October 2015, then tours internationally.
Blog by Alexandra Lazar
