Katja Davar

Electric Spinning Gauze

In "Electric Spinning Gaze", Katja Davar uses the processes of folding and unfolding, the opening and closing of wings to examine the process of metamorphosis both on stage and in nature, emphasising the connection between the two spheres (culture and nature). The starting point is the Serpentine Dance by the American dancer, choreographer and inventor Loïe Fuller (1862-1928), who developed abstract choreographies with sweeping, billowing silk costumes, coloured light and projections from the magic lantern shortly before the advent of film. In Katja Davar's project, the silk fabric, captured by a high-speed camera, becomes a dynamic projection surface on which, merging the natural motor of development with the digital illusion, the artistic studies of light and colour, together with the lyrical poetry of the time, are reflected. A series of large-format abstract pencil drawings - inspired by Matthias Grünewald's garment studies (around 1511) - complements the filmic material and places figures on the stage in which the sinuous pleats seem to have taken the place of the human body. Annelie Pohlen concludes in her review in "Kunstforum" (8/2019): "This undeniably sets the stage for a subversive role play of the female sex. But what shines above all in this production is Davar's complex pulverisation of all formal and thematic attributions."

Exhibitions:
Sculpture Museum Glaskasten Marl, 16/6-22/9/2019
Kunstverein Heilbronn, 18/10-29/11/2020