‘End to End’ (2015) by Performing Objects (Project by Enough Room for Space, Brussels)

 

Performing Objects consists of a group of artists (part of Enough Room for Space/Brussels, BE) that work together in a research project to explore objects and their possibilities to act as an interactive performer. Their project researches different ways artists can anticipate this process during the conceptualization and the conception of their work.

For the project End To End the group created a score which is inspired by Lean Management, a form of factory management developed by Toyota in Japan. They have been learning about Lean Management during a workshop in the Central Recycle Plant in Antwerp, BE. For the group this management method emphasizes the importance of the individual in the production line. Lean Management facilitates a possible interaction between man and thing – in contradiction to capitalistic production lines where only (the mass production of) the object counts.

For this exhibition some members of the group (Alice Demont, Bie Michels, Celine Butaye and Kristof Van Gestel) made and performed an installation as an artistic interpretation of an assembly line where systems of interaction between man and things are investigated. Objects are transformed and manipulated during performative acts, outlined in a score that leaves space to free interpretation, reflecting both on factory work and on the creative process of the artist. During the performance the group-members are constantly searching for a harmony between efficiency, planning, improvisation and reflection.

In Shanghai each of the group members collected specific objects. Together they performed the End to End score on november 11 in the Shanghai Systence Electronics factory and on november 13 in M50 Gallery. Traces of both these actions will be present during the rest of the exhibition LIU-SHUI-XIAN/Assembly Line Project Studio.