Mårten Spångberg, Epic
Manchester International Festival, July 2013
Mayfield Depot
Write a short art review (about 300 words) and tell your peers about the
best or worst exhibition you saw this year. Chose an artwork relevant to
your interests. Tell them...
*What you saw (name of exhibition, name of the artist(s) and artwork you
saw).
*Where you saw it
*Describe the artwork
*Say what you liked/disliked & why
*Back up any statements with supporting evidence
*Think about your readers. Does it make sense? Is it interesting?
Example:
The best show I saw this summer was MIF 2013, especially live
performances at Mayfield Depot. Mayfield Depot is a huge, dark and dusty, redundant
warehouse in Manchester. One of the best performances I saw was by a Danish artist
Mårten Spångberg called Epic. It got
my feet taping, my head turning and my mind moving! I was totally captivated
for 3 hours by bright colours, loud pop music and symmetrical poses.
The performance took place in a large 'stage' area marked out by glamorous
colourful textiles hanging off the ceiling and laid on the floor. The
performance mainly comprised of loud pop music such as Beyoncé’s Crazy
In Love and seven performers, who wore several layers of colourful
clothes which they took off and added to during the performance. The
performers moved very slowly in and out of short poses, most of which were
performed in pairs to create symmetrical shapes reminding me of Indian and
Egyptian gods. The performers also used objects throughout the performance like
ringing a pair of bells which reminded me of the act of ceremony.
The performance was non-stop for 4 hours and performed over several
days. At any time the spectator could watch several things going on at the same
time such as two performers moving on stage, one slowly undressing and one
slowly moving off the stage area in the direction of the bathroom. During all
of their activities they continued to remain in the performance which I found remarkable.
I have never seen a choreographed toilet break before. I found this very
liberating in comparison to performers who go for hours without 'seemingly'
needing to use the bathroom.
I was captivated and watched the performance for more than 3 hours
wondering what was going to happen next! It felt truly epic to be transported somewhere
between an ancient and contemporary glamorous world.
Watch the premier of Epic (loud music starts at 7 mins 20). Click on this link for the video...Marten Spangberg - Epic
