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until 28.10. | #3981ARTatBerlin | neugerriemschneider presents from 28. August 2023 the exhibition “Movement Notations” of the artist Noa Eshkol.
The fifth exhibition dedicated to Noa Eshkol at neugerriemschneider, on view at the Linienstrasse location during Berlin Art Week and the autumn edition of Gallery Weekend Berlin. movement notations forms a preview of the anniversary year 2024, in which the choreographer and artist would have turned one hundred. Following our earlier presentations of tapestries by Eshkol, we are showing rare sculptural, graphic and filmic works from her archive for the first time. These exhibits, some of which have not been seen for decades, document the development of the influential Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation, illuminating a central foundation of Eshkol’s creative practice. Following a five-year stay in England, where she studied expressionist dance, Eshkol developed the Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation together with the architect Avraham Wachman in Israel from 1951 to 1956. Published in 1958 in the book Movement Notation, this innovative movement notation is based on an interdisciplinary, universally applicable structure that goes beyond dance and the human figure in favour of an objective analysis of individual body parts.
Eshkol and Wachman defined a scheme for different body shapes, standardised the mobility of limbs and divided all movements into three different categories explained with scientific precision. On this basis, they created complex line systems with notations that clearly relate body and time. These records are complemented by diagrams by the graphic designer, theorist and performer John Harries, which illustrate the so-called “system of reference” used to visualise the movements. In combination with hanging spheres made of wire and fabric that transfer the “system of reference” into the third dimension, the exhibition shows original drawings by Wachman and Harries that were created in collaboration with Eshkol. These abstract to figurative representations, which also include sketches and ink graphics, bear witness to the novel classification and documentation of seemingly fleeting movements by means of the Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation. They alternate between stylised and purely informative illustrations that highlight the duality of the systematic structure of the theory and the movements depicted, which, as in Eshkol’s dance compositions, are often characterised by their harmony. Historical footage is devoted to the origins, implementation and influence of the system with studies of human and animal motor skills, notation-based movements and documentary footage of Eshkol and her Chamber Dance Group. Eshkol’s choreographic work will be honoured with performances by the Noa Eshkol Chamber Dance Group at KW Institute for Contemporary Art on 25 and 27 August. Together with the Georg Kolbe Museum, KW will reissue Eshkol and Wachman’s book Movement Notation in early 2024 for the first time since its initial publication.
In addition, the Georg Kolbe Museum will open an exhibition on Eshkol’s choreographic legacy in March 2024, which it will bring into dialogue with her tapestries. Works by Noa Eshkol (b. 1924, Degania Bet, League of Nations Mandate for Palestine; d. 2007, Cholon, Israel) have been shown in solo and group exhibitions at international museums and institutions, including Norrköpings Konstmuseum, Norrköping (2022); Oslo Kunstforening, Oslo (2021); Casa do Povo, São Paulo (2021); 34. Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo (2021); Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2019); CFHILL Art Space, Stockholm (2019); Vleeshal, Middelburg (2017); Kunstverein, Amsterdam (2017); 20. Biennale of Sydney, Sydney (2016); Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe (2016); Kunst- und Kulturstiftung Opelvillen Rüsselsheim, Rüsselsheim (2013); TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna (2012); Jewish Museum, New York (2012); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles (2012); Israel Museum, Jerusalem (2011); Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv (2011); Open Museum Tefen, Kfar Vradim (2010); Hamumche Gallery, Tel Aviv (1998); Mishkan Museum of Art, En Charod (1996); Designmuseum Danmark, Copenhagen (1980) and Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv (1978).
Location : Linienstraße
Exhibition dates: Saturday, 26. August until Saturday, 28. October 2023
To the Gallery
Image caption: Courtesy of neugerriemschnieder
Exhibition Noa Eshkol – Galerie neugerriemschneider | Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin | Contemporary Art | Ausstellungen Berlin Galerien | ART at Berlin
