Sound And Vision: Sculpture Meets Performance Art

Tabish Khan
By Tabish Khan Last edited 115 months ago
Sound And Vision: Sculpture Meets Performance Art
Bongsu Park, Cell, 2014. Image courtesy of the artist and Rosenfeld Porcinin
Bongsu Park, Cell, 2014. Image courtesy of the artist and Rosenfeld Porcinin
Keita Miyazaki, Money, 2014. Image courtesy of the artist and Rosenfeld Porcinin
Keita Miyazaki, Money, 2014. Image courtesy of the artist and Rosenfeld Porcinin
Bongsu Park, Core, 2014. Image courtesy of the artist and Rosenfeld Porcinin
Bongsu Park, Core, 2014. Image courtesy of the artist and Rosenfeld Porcinin
Keita Miyazaki, An Eye For An Eye, 2014. Image courtesy of the artist and Rosenfeld Porcinin
Keita Miyazaki, An Eye For An Eye, 2014. Image courtesy of the artist and Rosenfeld Porcinin
Bongsu Park, Cord, 2014. Image courtesy of the artist and Rosenfeld Porcinin
Bongsu Park, Cord, 2014. Image courtesy of the artist and Rosenfeld Porcinin
Keita Miyazaki, Black Tree, 2014. Image courtesy of the artist and Rosenfeld Porcinin
Keita Miyazaki, Black Tree, 2014. Image courtesy of the artist and Rosenfeld Porcinin

Sound and performance art are both expanding genres and this show brings together two very different artists to create works that play both to our eyes and ears.

On the ground floor are Keita Miyazaki's industrious sculptures made from found materials such as car parts, yet they are shaped like plants to sit in a middle ground between nature and industry. Where we would expect to see the flower heads, instead are concealed speakers, which emanate the sounds of the artist's native Japan — from generic music played in supermarkets to the tune played when a suicide is announced on the Tokyo metro.

These surreal sculptures evoke a certain discomfiture in the viewer, which is fitting as the artist has been inspired by the recent tsunami devastation in Japan.

Downstairs are the video dance works of Bongsu Park. Here, themes include the after effects of our actions and the parts of our life that tie us down. The videos are meditative with often hypnotic performances. Our favourite is called core and involves a woman writhing underneath a sheet as if she is preparing to emerge from a cocoon.

One problem with video art is that galleries are often unable to display it properly. But here it succeeds, and it's great to see the gallery's lower level has been transformed with subtle partitions that ensure each work is separated and can be experienced as an immersive work.

Both these artists offer a departure to the strong line-up of painters at normally on show at Rosenfeld Porcini and so we were pleasantly surprised at this two-person show that is both inventive and engaging.

Sound & Vision is on at Rosenfeld Porcini, 37 Rathbone St, W1T 1NZ until 30 September. Entrance is free.

Last Updated 04 August 2014