How much do we really know about human interaction and expression? Although we probably know as much as there is to know about verbal expression in the form of language, what about the many forms of non-verbal expression? Sydney and Paris based video and performance artist Angelic Mesiti’s new multi-channel video work “The Colour of Saying,” currently on show at Sydney’s Anna Schwartz Gallery until June 13, explores the role and significance of non-verbal interactions while at the same time questions how much we encode and decode of what we express through these non-verbal interactions. And it does all this within a multidimensional framework that activates the gallery space by connecting it the design of the stages in the videos, enlists the viewers as participants by leading them through the space, and establishes the inactive stages as minimalist abstract graphic scenes. It’s an amazing work that transcends time, space, and dimension, and in doing so challenges the boundaries of the medium of video.“The Colour of Saying” is an interpretation of a live performance that was originally conceived for the Lilith Performance Studio in Malmo, Sweden as a live performance featuring collaborations with a sign language choir, musicians, and dancers. At Anna Schwartz Gallery the work is presented on three double-sided, free-standing screens, which show each of the three videos sequentially, leading viewers from one to another as each performance is screened. One screen shows a silent performance by a sign language choir who sign the choral piece “Serenade To Music” by Ralph Vaughan Williams. On another screen two older ballet dancers use only their hands to “dance” a pas de deux from “Swan Lake,” again in silence until near the end. Rupturing the relative silence of the other two performances is a clapping performance by two percussionists.The basis of the work is what Mesiti describes as “the nature of silence, imagined sound, and unheard songs.” Venturing beyond the functionality of human communication, Mesiti exposes, celebrates, and explores the creativity and artistry of human interaction, and in the process initiates an experience that is so unfamiliar that it’s almost unexplainable. In fact the experience is so unique that it has the power to stop viewers in their tracks and command their complete attention. But as well as being an unusual experience, it’s also a deeply satisfying one, perhaps because it seems to enact an engagement with the senses on a subconscious level and an activation of the periphery of perception. If you were to imagine human beings’ perception of communication as an incomplete picture puzzle, this work has the effect of adding pieces to the puzzle and adding clarity to the picture of human interaction.“The Colour of Saying” continues Mesiti’s ongoing exploration of non-verbal communication, adapted methods of expression, and the diversity of human interaction. The catalyst for the performance was a group of deaf high school students that she encountered at an interchange train station in Paris. According to Mesiti, the typical teenagers were having a conversation in sign language that she says was “gesturally expressive.” It was the expressive nature of the conversation that caught her attention and inspired the performance that led to the creation of the video work. Mesiti says that she has wanted to work with sign language for quite a while. “After I did ‘The Calling’ last year which focused on whistled language, this felt like a connection or a progression of thinking about other forms of embodied practice,” she says.Fulfilling Mesiti’s desire to work with sign language, the first screen in the space shows the performance by the sign language choir which comprises a group of students who are learning to become sign language interpreters. With this performance Mesiti engages with the senses of sight and sound in a way that challenges the viewer to question how they interact with other people and also how they use and engage the senses of sight and sound, both individually and combined. Although the work is essentially silent (except for the faint sound of rustling clothes), you still feel compelled to stop and listen, to focus your senses and “hear” the work even though there is no sound. Some of the performers appear to be mouthing words as they are directed by the choir leader, which creates the illusion that they are to be able to hear the music, even though they are not listening to anything. It is even possible to imagine the music that the choir is “singing” from the rhythm and movement of their hands as well as the swaying of their bodies. Mesiti explains that the periods of swaying indicate a musical interlude when there are not lyrics to sign. “The swaying is a nice natural reaction to how you interpret the periods when there is nothing to sign so that your body is still responding and explaining that there is music,” says Mesiti. “They came up with that because the orchestration is quite sparse. They just naturally started swaying in the music sections.”After the silence of the sign language choir, the sharp noise of the clapping performance is quite startling and rather unnerving. The captivating sound of the primitive, minimalist performance penetrates the gallery space, exposing and emphasizing the effectiveness of the human body as an instrument of expression while also heightening the senses and anchoring the work in the present reality. According to Mesiti, one of the reasons that she wanted to work with clapping is that for the hearing impaired percussion is the most perceptible part of music because of the way that vibrations reach the body. “As the sound waves enter the body of vibrations that is translated into rhythm by the body,” she explains. “I wanted a point where the silence was ruptured by a very loud sound, but at the same time I wanted to maintain the focus on hand gestures. I wanted to basically be able to produce music in a really modest way without introducing any instruments,” she adds.The transition to the ballet performance reveals two veteran ballet dancers, Rolf Hepp and Jette Nejman (83 and 70 respectively) sitting down on the stage. Through these two older dancers, Mesiti celebrates the elegance, grace, and artistry of human interaction as well as the wisdom, beauty, and experience of age. As the performance begins, Hepp and Nejman Swan Lake begin “dancing” a pas de deux, but only using their hands and while remaining seated. This shorthand choreographic language, which is known as “hand marking,” is used by dancers when they are injured or trying to conserve energy as a way of memorizing the choreography without having to perform the dance with their entire body. “We translated the choreography of the into the hand marking language for these mature dancers whose bodies are no longer trained up or have the capacity to perform the choreography in its original form, Mesiti explains. “It is a reimagining of the choreography that is adapted to their bodies in the stage that they are in right now. In a sense they are still performing Swan Lake but in a different way.” The performance remains silent until near the end when the music that the dancers are listening to is revealed to the viewer.One of the most interesting elements of “The Colour of Saying” is the aesthetics of the performance spaces and the way they appear on the screens, both during and after each performance. “Although this is a three dimensional space that has a practical purpose as a stage and seating, I liked that the image on the screen was almost bare, imperceptible, and graphic like an abstract image that holds the screen on its own,” Mesiti explains. After each of the performances, when the participants leave the space, the image of the space remains on the screen, but it doesn’t remain the same. In the absence of the shadows created by the performance, the space takes on the appearance of a minimalist abstract picture. When the performers return they activate the space, transforming it from an abstract to a figurative scene. The change in each space from occupied to vacant and vice versa is so drastic that it seems as though it is an entirely different space.Reflecting on the development of “The Colour of Saying,” Mesiti identifies a moment from one of the performances in Sweden as being particularly memorable. “I had a blind dancer come to one of the performances,” she recalls. “It was quite astounding the way he experienced the performance. His friend, who was also a dancer, took his hand and moved it in the air to trace what the dancers were doing as a way of illustrating to him what was happening – what the action was that was taking place. What he was doing felt like a gestural thing that blended in with the rest of the performance.” This experience testifies to Mesiti’s talent for expressing her intentions, ideas, and concepts with authority, elegance, and clarity. It is with imaginative and experimental works such as “The Colour of Saying” that Mesiti established her international reputation, and through which she continues to justify her status as one of the most innovative and exciting video artists working today.Angelica Mesiti’s “The Colour of Saying” is at Anna Schwartz Gallery in Sydney until June 13, 2015See video documentation of the performance in Sweden belowLilith Performance - Angelica Mesiti (AUS) -The Colour of Saying from Lilith Performance Studio on Vimeo.
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