Free
Johanna Billing’s videos reflect on routine, choreography and ritual, with an emphasis on the fragility of individual performance within collective experience. Obsessed by circularity and retrospection, she stages specific situations where something is about to take place, the artist herself remaining invisible during the performances and actions that are recorded. Billing’s skill lies in combining the choreography of individuals with facilitating their freedom to perform naturally, bringing the whole together in the editing process.
I’m Lost Without Your Rhythm is based on the recording of a live performance of dance learned’ or performed by amateur Romanian dancers in Iasi, Romania, during the Periferic 8 Biennial of Contemporary Art in Oct 2008. The film links several days’ activity into a continuous process, in which dancers were watched by an audience who were free to come and go as they pleased. There is no final performance as such and so the work is a result of collaboration between choreographer, musicians, dancers and audience. Her presentation at Arnolfini incorporates events, screenings of her previous works, talks and music performances.
A vinyl LP of the soundtrack to I’m Lost Without Your Rhythm will be released by Arnolfini in collaboration with the Munich-based label Apparent Extent.
Im Lost Without Your Rhythm has been commissioned as part of the 3 Series: 3 artists, 3 spaces, 3 years sequence of new commissions, of which this is the second – a collaboration between Arnolfini, Camden Arts Centre, and Modern Art Oxford. 3 Series: 3 artists, 3 spaces, 3 years is funded by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
