Abstract
Pavement Gallery presents Harold Offeh’s ‘Joy Inside Our Tears’ (2021). Commissioned by The Wellcome Gallery in 2020 and shown there in 2021, Offeh’s installation will feature at Pavement Gallery between 21st January and 18th March 2023.
Consisting of video, sound, and vinyl photographs, Offeh responds to historical examples of social dance in relation to trauma. His research for the commission focuses on medieval dance mania - the spontaneous outbreaks of dance amongst Northern European peasants in 14th century plague time - alongside the HIV/AIDS ‘dance-a-thon’ fundraisers held in the US during the 1990’s. Here, the act of joy and celebration through dance and duration transforms collective social trauma and anxieties. Through Joy Inside Our Tears, Pavement Gallery becomes transformed into an electric-yellow locomotion of energy. Reaching beyond the limitations of the gallery with it’s miasmic audio (produced by poet and sound-designer Xana), the work spills to the street, coaxing visitors and passers-by alike to join the infectious movement. Located within the centre of Manchester (in close proximity to the famous Canal Street), the work is placed in direct dialogue with the city’s substantial cultural history of both collective modern dance and queer empowerment.
Performers: Harold Offeh, Veronica Codova de la Rosa, Samra Mayanja, Ebun A Sodipo
Photography & vinyl design: Eloise Calandre
Choreography: Vânia Gala
Sound design: Xana
Project support: Jack Scott, James Jordan Johnson
Consisting of video, sound, and vinyl photographs, Offeh responds to historical examples of social dance in relation to trauma. His research for the commission focuses on medieval dance mania - the spontaneous outbreaks of dance amongst Northern European peasants in 14th century plague time - alongside the HIV/AIDS ‘dance-a-thon’ fundraisers held in the US during the 1990’s. Here, the act of joy and celebration through dance and duration transforms collective social trauma and anxieties. Through Joy Inside Our Tears, Pavement Gallery becomes transformed into an electric-yellow locomotion of energy. Reaching beyond the limitations of the gallery with it’s miasmic audio (produced by poet and sound-designer Xana), the work spills to the street, coaxing visitors and passers-by alike to join the infectious movement. Located within the centre of Manchester (in close proximity to the famous Canal Street), the work is placed in direct dialogue with the city’s substantial cultural history of both collective modern dance and queer empowerment.
Performers: Harold Offeh, Veronica Codova de la Rosa, Samra Mayanja, Ebun A Sodipo
Photography & vinyl design: Eloise Calandre
Choreography: Vânia Gala
Sound design: Xana
Project support: Jack Scott, James Jordan Johnson
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - 2023 |
| Event | Joy Inside Our Tears - Pavement, Manchester, United Kingdom Duration: 21 Jan 2023 → 18 Mar 2023 https://www.artrabbit.com/events/harold-offeh-joy-inside-our-tears |
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