Rituals for Momentary Cohesion Performances
(Cyprus/ UK/ South Africa)

How is my body that which I own, that which sanctifies belonging, the material which pins me down
in the world? How is my body that which gives me claim to a place through breath, through my gait
in the space of things? How is my body the legislation of what I abide to and of what is abided by?

‘[f]or me, beginning and end lies in this earth’ (Breytenbach 1980: 230).

Rituals for Momentary Cohesion (1998-2002) consists of three performance works taking place in Cyprus, England and South Africa. These consider the negotiations of the body in space as attempts are made to reach some form of temporary consolidation, forging a sense of connection between past and present, seeking to cohere disparate aspects of a cultural/geographical fragmentary self. The body’s negotiation in space (natural or man-made) formed an important aspect of the ‘rituals’, although the points of focus differed from, on the one hand, being more openly embracing of the environment in which I had placed myself to, on the other, being more focused on the activity at hand than on immersion in the landscape. In all instances the location of the body within the site/space was integral to the performance. Actions formed momentary integrations where a certain mark-making, an entering into the landscape or institutional location, enabled the forging of a more sustained (albeit temporary) sense of recognition and cohesion. These were, however, also moments of transient duration and soon the self found itself in the same (but different) place of disconnection again. These performances considered the conditions of exile as the itinerant navigates through time and space, mark-making and erasure. This echoes Gormley’s proposition that the experiential is a singularly important aspect as ‘an absolute subjectivity allowing existence to become the material, subject and generating principle of art’ (Gormley 2007: 128).

“reconstitute: v.t. Build up again from parts; restore previous constitution by adding water; piece together (past events) into intelligible whole; reorganise’. (OXFORD dictionary)

Reconstitution took place on the 23rd May 2001 at Winchester School of Art, England.

designated position Alphabet took place on the 1st January 1998 at Lemba Beach, Paphos, Cyprus.

designated position di-(A-Z) took place at dusk on the 17th August 2002 at Diaz Beach, South Africa.

L-R designated position di-(A-Z);  designated position Alphabet; Reconstitution