Telephone Poles is a long durational performative installation. In front of the performer (Giorgio Bassil), a balance scale and a very long entangled cotton thread are placed on the floor. Each side of the thread is attached to a small wooden cylinder.

The performer will be untying and rolling its border around the two identical cylinders.

To reach the unmarked middle point of the thread, the artist will be constantly weighting both sticks together using the balance scale. When the sticks are not balanced, he will switch and untie from around the lighter cylinder’s side to maintain the balance.

While unknotting on one side, the public is invited to imitate and untie from the other side, using the other stick.

Performing alone or with the public, he will keep repeating the same process and maintaining the balance until the rope is all rolled on both sticks and the middle point is found.

The result of this performance will be two connected ravels, each one rolled on a wooden cylinder, resting equally on each side of the scale.

Finding the middle point with someone from the public is similar to having a discussion with a stranger and meeting halfway.

On another level, the performance is an example of the best way to settle in an inner place of soft focus and ease: to find a sense of balance between different sides, feelings or thoughts in one’s own head.

The spectator, by taking the role of a performer, is aiming to dissolve the division between the two roles, and is open to have an experimental performative conversation that requires patience and observation.

Conceptualized and performed by Giorgio Bassil, Telephone Poles is scheduled from Friday 7 June 2019 until Wednesday 12 June 2019 at 6:30 pm at the Plaza of the Industrial Palace (Prague Exhibition Grounds).

PQ Formations Curatorial Statement: Artists and architects from around the world bring distinct approaches in their fields and the curiosity to enter into experimental performative conversations in the urban context to present unique contributions that will become part of a larger co-creation. Each project focuses on clearly defined patterns and their arbitrary but symbiotic interweaving in the public space. The works intersect at random moments with the open environment, the public, the weather, and other selected works performed near and passing through another. The resulting disruptions and frictions will expand the individual contributions as they become part of a continuous whole unfolding across the vast square in front of the Industrial Palace.

Theme: Transformation
Transformation is the core of the creative process. Process of surpassing individual personality realizing the power of shared awareness and the collective vision of a group. Inspiration through the best collaborative performance design and architecture, where experience and deep understanding play a major role in its successful realization. Focusing on in-depth explorations of the possibilities within the limitations of each task, where the limits determine new styles, engender new forms, and give impulse to new creations.

Curators: D. Chase Angier & Serge von Arx
All PQ2019 exhibitions and projects are curated, which means that participation is by selection through an open call application process.

Formations Performer: Giorgio Bassil

A Non-Competitive Exhibition
Formations is a non-competitive project. Though curated for participation, it does not have prize categories.

Venue: The Plaza of the Industrial Palace (Prague Exhibition Grounds)

Performance Hours: Friday 7 June 2019 until Wednesday 12 June 2019 at 6:30 pm

Formations is a collaborative project between architects, choreographers and performance designers investigating the impact of movement, structures and patterns in performance and everyday life (nature, urbanism and architecture). It addresses established artists, companies and emerging artists from all fields, who work with, or want to explore the merging of architecture and performance with a time-based performative action in the public space that explores patterns.