Look! as reviewed by Nike Desis

Landmarks Contemporary Projects
Presents PIMA Group: LOOK!
Performances February 1-3, 2008 @ Powel House Museum

The Philadelphia Society for Preservation of Landmarks apparently does as it’s title suggests and then some. In 2006 they introduced a program called the Landmarks Contemporary Projects. Which sounds really cool. C’mon they “explore new conceptual territories, create new collaborations and make its houses relevant to today’s audiences.”

The program I attended was a night performance of the Philadelphia based non-profit group PIMA at the Powel House, a historic house museum in Olde City.

There seems to be a sterility associated with historical landmarks. But, these were and are houses filled with people and narratives. Historical things and places are usually detached from their original purposes as a part of real and everyday life so it’s a common affliction of landmarks to be presented in a static far removed way. Timelines and stories and connections are ever changing.

Look! certainly explored the static sense of museum atmosphere and there was a direct representation of static in some of the dancers more spastic movements, in the live dj-ing of cranky crunchy sounds, and in fuzzy projections. These static-y visual stuffs are also paradoxically full of movement, digital technology, and a progression of time - through the pixilated recreation of scenes from moments before, thrown sound, and with muttered whispery phrases by the dancers into your face/ear. These were especially successful effects for contemplating a dynamic sense of the past. Like the program says: “By activating empty spaces around the house- spaces that represent centuries of life, work, decay and rebirth-PIMA provides audience with a rare opportunity to link the past with contemporary experience. They are explorers in a space that is at once inviting and distant trying to make sense of a site through the haze of time.”

So, in thinking about the whole package, it was obvious I was seeing some contemporary work- dance, bright tights, and mannequins as markers among others- but the history of the house itself receded into the background. Intellectually I understood the idea of doing a new and multi media performance in specific site, but as a visual piece I perhaps wanted it to be a little more transgressive than it was. What was it about the Powel House itself that I needed to know about? It wasn’t clear. But then again, maybe it was enough to have just been there for an event other than a stuffy house tour. Did I expect to come away with a better understanding of antique furniture? No. So, I guess I appreciated the building as a vessel for a new art work, which already moved me into a new direction of experiencing a house like the Powel House.

As for the actual choreography of the dance, there were some wonderful movement moments that I latched onto. I was interested in the dramatic scenes where all the dancers reconvened and marched up and down the stairs. Fast movements in a dark, intimate bedroom in front of a mirror and a prop fire were also memorable. Without neglecting the audience, the dancers would also, for example, finish a dining room ditty and slowly, while looking you in the eye, close the door behind her and leave you totally, awkwardly alone in a room. In the moments where when I found the movement less interesting I could easily go to another part of the house and see what was going on in there.

The last time I was in a historic mansion, I happened to have some freedom during the house’s off hours and I ran through the infinite rooms and staircases turning lights on and off, opening and closing doors, glancing or contemplating, and hearing creepy sounds where there weren’t any. I had a surreal pleasure of being in a place of immeasurable monumental value and surrounded by objects of unknown historical value -with out any supervision. Contemporary art and history have that at least in common: unknown, immeasurable cultural value and a rush of discovery. I didn’t so much as cough on any of the furniture, but there was a sense of transgression in my own self-guided running tour of Strawberry Mansion. PIMA’s Look! included some running from room to room choreography, and that was a kind of drama I could seriously identify with at the Powel House.

[Nike Desis is currently in the midst of publishing "Crayon Couture",an adult-themed activity book chock full of connect- the -dot satire, both written and illustrated by the artist. Desis is also an artist
living and working in Philadelphia]


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