Of Objects and Sound

Book Accommodation

Anna Schwartz gallery, Eveleigh

by Andrew Frost

During their recent studio residency in New York the Mangano sisters – Gabrielle and Silvana – took up walking not just as a means of exercise but also as their working method. Their strolls through the city led them to find all sorts of discarded objects – metal rods and bars, a sander disc, wooden boards amongst them. Taking the found objects back to the studio, the pair devised dance and movement pieces that incorporated the objects into their choreography.

Given the noted minimalist performance aesthetic of their past works, this new suite of video-performance installation pieces seem as though the Manganos have reduced their work even further to the very simplest of components. Where previous pieces consisted of simple, mirrored movements then video looped into a seemingly endless encounter, pieces such as Standing Piece for Forms and Standing Piece for Sound have the classic astringent feel of early Bauhaus and Constructivist performances. The multi-screen Performance Composition for Sculpture is virtually still – and silent. Where the artists might go from here is uncertain, but for now Of Objects and Sound has reached a point of minimalist perfection.

Pic: Gabriella Mangano & Silvana Mangano, Walking Piece for Forms, 2014
Single channel High Definition digital video, 16:9, colour, sound
4 minutes