Coming about through a series of studio experiments by artists Anna Lucas and Alice Walton, Elektra explores a shared concern with the printed photographic image. Through movement and the repetition of simple gestures in relation to the printed page the work highlights their interest in close looking. In this instance, black and white book pages from Walton’s archive are turned and reflected back on themselves, revealing and concealing their subject matter to draw attention to the particularities of the image. The formal qualities of line, texture and juxtaposition are as enticing here as the reflexive touch of a real hand across a (printed) body. The presence of two bodies manipulating a physical object within a particular context, is apparent through the sometimes hesitant movements and the occasional appearance of the studio space.
Elektra (publication) 2019 uses stills from the film to return the images to a material object. Touched by recurring gestures - smoothing, seeing, lingering, pulling, resting - it proposes interaction.
The audience are invited to ‘use’ the publication and to bring their own movement and touch to the process of engaging with the printed page.
Lucas and Walton use the ‘studio’ set up within the context of One Second Feature as an opportunity to pursue their collaboration. Returning to ideas of close looking they use Elektra in conjunction with a set of materials and props to animate the studio through collaborative making.
This live and iterative process will support a deeper exploration into ideas of embodied learning, friendship as form and alongside collaborative making while furthering their mutual interest in how image behaves in movement.