The Installation

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At the centre of the space is a mound of shredded paper — accumulated histories, fragments of text, documents, stories. It shifts, collapses, and reforms in response to the people who pass through. The artist works within it wearing yellow gloves: to protect from paper cuts, but mostly as a symbol of care — of the work required to rebuild connections, to clear what holds us back, to release what no longer serves.

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There is a row of waiting room chairs with questionnaires on clipboards inviting handwritten or drawn responses to questions about their sense of human connection, that influence the artists dance and engagement with the paper mound as she translates and transmutes story, shape and form into movement and ritual. 

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The 1:1 space for those who ‘wait’ offers a rare moment of held connection, non-verbal exchange — adapted to each person’s needs this space welcomes our collective expression to connect, to share space, to listen and maybe even dance!

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The Durational Structure

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PROXIMIT is shaped by three distinct phases-

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Phase 1: Building 

The artist arrives locally, stays throughout, and begins constructing the installation over two days. The build is itself part of the work — a slow preparation of the space, a gathering of intention. This phase is not presented to the public but is felt in the readiness of the space when doors open.

 

Phase 2: Workshops 

Two-hour workshops can take place in the installation space or a separate studio. Participants explore the practices and principles that shape the work, that experiment with proprioception, embodiment, gesture, hand-written stories and mapped dances. Workshops gradually build into a playful opportunity to connect with others through accessible movement scores that invite people to adapt, disrupt and connect. Workshops are reflective of the intention and process embedded within this work.

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Workshops provide access for people to question and engage with the work and create their own artistic responses. It breaks down barriers by inviting the public into the process, and motivates public engagement and interaction during the days of the performance. 

 

Phase 3: Durational Performance 

Over two-three consecutive days — ideally across a weekend — the durational performance takes place. The artist is present and immersed for the full duration of each day. The public moves through at their own pace: some encounter the space briefly, some linger, interact and some choose to partake in the 1:1 exchange.

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Each day accumulates the traces of what came before — in the shifted paper mound, in the completed question-forms left on chairs (that are later shredded to join the paper mound), in the accumulated smell of peeled orange skins. The artist's own reflection is present too: through writing, movement, and occasional conversation with those who stay. What emerges is determined by the interaction of those who witness and engage.

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Why This Work for "Hold This" 

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Hold This asks for human hands making human things, for analogue engagement in a fragmented and disembodied age, for work that foregrounds exchange — of ideas, stories, knowledge, histories, experiences. PROXIMITY enacts all of this in its form, content and experience.

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The paper mound is shredded history — the weight of what we accumulate and carry. The interaction within the space seeks to make visible the invisible architecture of human connection. The 1:1 exchange offers the rare experience of an unhurried, no-words-needed, liberating listening space of connection with another.

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Workshops create the foundations and invite engagement and access into this work. The people who attend the workshops feed into the performance and create a sense of connection and relationship that invite them deeper into the work and to visit the gallery for the duration of the installation.

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Installation materials:

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Installation consists of a paper mound, 3 waiting room chairs, clipboards with questionnaires, and a small 1:1 space with the worlds tiniest disco!

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The performer is a woman in yellow gloves who moves between peeling oranges, embodying the space (between us and around us), inviting connection with passers by, all experiences influencing her interaction with the shredded paper mound - representative of all we hold and carry- her movements a ritual as we decide what we keep, reshape and release.

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Waiting room chairs with clipboards hold creative questionnaires and a pencil for people to reflect and engage with as they choose. The intimate 1:1 space with a suspended disco ball is for those who wait and wish to enter (the questionnaire they complete guides them to this experience).

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The paper mound is 3-foot (36-inch) tall consisting of loosely piled, shredded paper with base width of approximately 4 to 6 feet (48–72 inches), beginning in a natural cone shape that gradually transforms and reshapes throughout the durational work.

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The 1:1 space is optional dependent on the layout of the gallery space- in the original performance the waiting room chairs were set up outside a broom closet next to the installation - ideal tiny spaces could be phone booths, cloak rooms, kitchenettes, small corridors spaces, or built installation with black fabric creating a small box shaped space just enough space for two people (allowing enough space for people who use a wheelchair). The one to one space is a darkened space with a suspended disco ball, filled with the smell of orange skins and two sets of headphones with powerful dance-your-socks off music you can’t resist moving to! A reflective experience exploring comfort-zone and breakthrough.
 
Dimensions:

Adaptable to any space ideally a space of 42sqm and where there could be a double height perspective/ staircase where people have multiple viewing points (testing their own proximity to the work). The one to one experience is optional and dependent on the layout of the gallery.

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For further details on workshops, installation or any questions please email- laurasarahdowdall@gmail.com