SODA WORKS 2018

A g a p is a mysterious space between spaces, a space in-between
(spectral) registers. It is a place of potentiality: not A (pronounced /ɑː/),
not B (/b/) and not AB (/ɑːʔb/) but rather the /ʔ/ (a glottal stop) in
between. There is not one single g a p.
Many different gaps exist. A g a p is a space of the poetic, a space
between the form and the content, a space between the “how” and the
“what”. It is a space between the signifier and the signified. A g a p is
between the essence and appearance of a thing. It is between a thing
and another thing. Between you and me, for example; as the complete
change of perspective and experience and as a spatiotemporal break.
It is a space between the physical and the imaginary. The elusive now
is also a g a p, a black hole of the moment, separating the past from the
future.
A g a p is an unbreachable space, but it is not totally unreachable. In
other words, we can’t grasp the whole spectrum of the g a p, but we
can tap into it, activate it, even if only on the surface to understand its
reverberating effects in the surrounding spaces.
In the accelerated world of the globalized webbed 21st century we are
living a drastic increase in the density of information and perceivable
shrinkage of time, forming a saturated experience of being. Saturation is
a lack of gaps with no space for playfulness. No space for comprehension.
Saturation is being too close to the situation to see it properly. The
senseless pursuit of profit promoted by the current dominant political
agenda is a pathological societal condition, a saturation of society’s
body with LDL, the bad cholesterol. Saturation is the cause of a clogged
vein – a gap is a diluent.
Interrupt the space!
By working with gaps we can achieve pieces of magic interruption, we
can pull saturated mental and physical space apart and activate a space
of poetic. Using gaps is a way of stimulating the audience, activating
both imaginary space and fostering physical body involvement. In my
practice I employ gaps to destabilize the state of saturation where things
stick to each other in numbing inertia. I use them to introduce friction;
destabilizing the common perception of the world we tend to (mistakenly)
take for granted. Working with gaps is a practice of disruption,
questioning and dilution. It is an attempt of deconstructing dualities,
establishing performative spaces as places of meetings in-between,
encounters belonging to no one and everyone at the same time.