'Motus Mori: Corpus' at Leeds Art Gallery

A literal translation of Motus Mori could be 'Movement that is dying (out)' and is the name of an institute formed by choreographer Katja Heitmann.

The stated aim of the institute is 'an attempt to archive human movement before it disappears. Propulsed by the desire to find what connects us, we are embarking on a long-term process to collect, preserve and share this most elusive part of our humanity. This is an archive for everybody, everywhere, to investigate the body as a repository or memories and emotions. What moves you?' 

[Source: http://www.motusmori.com]

'Corpus' (the body) is a new version of the Motus Mori archive, the premiere of which was held at Leeds Art Gallery from Friday 8th to Sunday 10th December 2023. 

The performance-ritual was created with a group of people in Leeds aged from 20 to 86. 

Concept and choreography by Katja Heitmann, music and creative production by Sander van Der Schaaf, artistic assistants and performance by Eleni Ploumi, Julia Drittij, Ornella Prieto and Ida Osten.

The Leeds performers were: Sonja Miller, Lara Woodhouse, Philip Harvey, Marion Small, Kath Morgan-Thompson, Tamsin Spain, Helen Thompson, Mike Thompson, Janetta Maxwell, Debra Lane, David Hutchinson, Irandokht Monfared and Lewis Anderson.

The duration of the performance was approx. 30 minutes.

I attended the 2:00pm performance on the first day instead of the premiere at 11:00am as previously planned due to unforeseen reasons. Before the performance itself began, there was a brief session of preparation which seemed to be aimed at encouraging relaxation and preparedness in the performers.

The performance began by introducing each performer's method of relaxing, a particular pose or stance that is adopted whenever the individual is resting or deep in thought. Each pose was introduced verbally as all the performers sat in a line at one end of the performance space and collectively adopted and experienced each of the poses in turn one by one. Once this had been completed, the performers rose and moved to previously marked locations within the performance space. Now, two or more performers joined together, partnering to remake those poses, sharing them so that a particular pose now was adopted by the input of two or three performers instead of one, the way that was demonstrated at the beginning. 

After a while, some participants moved away to join together with others to share and participate in their poses too. This sometimes left poses half completed so that the audience could compare the two states of being. Once several combinations had been tried out, many of the performers moved out to draw the audience into the performance. A lady sat next to me and shared her pose with me: a way of relaxing that she inherited from her mother. She placed her elbow onto her thigh, with her other hand wrapped around the elbow for support and rested her face onto her palm. Then she suggested that we could attempt to share the pose. She placed her elbow on my thigh while my hand supported it. I then rested my face in her palm. She asked me if it was comfortable and it was.

During the entire performance, besides the initial verbal descriptions of the poses, rhythmic music seemed to link all the sections of movements together, including the pauses, it acted like a pulse or heartbeat. 

I enjoyed this performance and it physically worked well, flowing comfortably and logically. Some parts made me think of the work of Tino Seghal, as his work is also about making connections, team work, sharing...

This was a great event organised by Motus Mori, Yorkshire Dance and Leeds Art Gallery and formed part of the Leeds 2023 Year of Culture. 

10 Mars Bars

Recently I received the sad news that an old college friend of mine (Mick - Michael Dean) had passed away. Although those days were now 35 years in the past, the memories remain as vivid as ever and probably will remain so unless I suffer a lapse of memory brought on by old age.

At times like these there is often an exchange of memories and photographs between friends and, though we feel have a clear picture of events, there are also surprises or 'blasts from the past'. I received one of these 'blasts' in the form of a tangible record of something that occurred within the first few weeks of arriving at college.

In the Autumn of 1981 I arrived at Newcastle Upon Tyne Polytechnic (Later to become Northumbria University) to study on the BA (Hons) Fine Art degree course and initially stayed at the Lovaine B Halls of Residence. There I met a group of friends, most of whom I am still in contact with to this day. Within the first 2 months we collectively decided that life in the Halls of Residence was horrendous and so 7 of us rented a house in the Benwell area of Gateshead, just across the river from Newcastle. However before we moved out an event occurred one Wednesday evening the memory of which has now been brought to the fore.

During a casual and mundane conversation, mention was made of Mars bars and how filling they were. I personally liked them and declared that I found them so tasty that eating one would be as easy as anything, in fact I could probably eat more than one. I'm not sure how this happened or what exactly was said but within a short time I had stated that I could eat 10 Mars bars without problem.

Consequently, on Wednesday evening on the 21st October 1981 a group of friends gathered in the Lovaine B Halls of Residence, primarily to eat dinner but also to witness me eat 10 Mars bars. As 8 of my friends sat down to eat a perfectly normal meal, I lined up the 10 Mars bars in front of me on the table. At 7:00pm I began eating the first one and by 7:40pm I had consumed all 10. Surprisingly, after dinner I accompanied the others into the city to have a few drinks and didn't feel worse for wear. In those days, it is worth noting, Mars bars were considerably larger than they are today.

In recent weeks, following Mick's sad passing, among many truly nostalgic photographs there was one of a page in a notebook. It turned out that this page, in one of Andrew Brown's notebooks, commemorated the Mars bar event in the form of a declaration, stating:

'Between 7:00pm and 7:40pm on Wednesday the 21st of October Patrick S. Ford at 10 Mars bars in quick succession without any break longer than a minute and without throwing up. We the undersigned are witness to this event.

Andrew Brown

Jane Watmough

Mark Dunn

D. Todd

Alan Laffey

Nigel Roberts

Michael Dean

Heather Craig (I took some pictures)'

I could only marvel at this document, seeing it now after so many years. It is a terrible tragedy that this news only surfaced due to Mick's untimely passing, but this is often how the world works. Mick was a hard-working, kind man and deserved to live out many more years with his family. It just doesn't seem fair at all.

Despite the event being the result of a silly, playful wager among friends, it is also quite prescient as it seems to point towards performance as an activity to be explored. This is quite possibly my first performance piece. If only I could track down those photographs taken by Heather Craig!

I would need to check the dates but the event may possibly have been inspired by visits to The Basement in Newcastle where, as a first year Fine Art student I saw artists such as Alastair Maclennan performing a 24 hour walking performance. Seeing him perform was such a privilege and I feel grateful that I had such an experience and I feel exactly the same way about attending a lecture by the great Joseph Beuys at Leeds Art Gallery (Henry Moore Institute) back in my Foundation Course days, wonderful experiences that should be treasured. 

The page in Andrew Brown's notebook

*NB. 

Since this account was posted I have been contacted by Alan Laffey, one of the signatories to the 10 Mars Bars event. He made two pertinent comments that are worth adding here:

A) He felt sure that the event occurred not in the Lovaine B Halls of Residence, but in the house we subsequently moved to in Rectory Road, Benwell, Gateshead. He remembered that the wrappers from the 10 Mars Bars were attached to the wall in Rectory Road as a memento of the event. I remember this but cannot recall if the event happened there, or if the wrappers were brought from the Halls of Residence when we moved. I need to find my now misplaced diaries to check as I'm sure there would have been an entry to record exactly where the event took place.

B) He also reminded me that following the 10 Mars Bars event there was talk of a follow-up project, namely the eating of 25 Cadbury's Cream Eggs. I can remember this now and I wonder why it was never followed up. Perhaps I gained some sense?