Alex Baczyński-Jenkins, Us Swerve (2014). Performance at OGR Torino, Italy, 2023. Courtesy: the artist. Photo: Luigi de Palma for OGR Torino
Us Swerve
In Alex Baczyński-Jenkins’s Us Swerve (2014), performers on rollerblades orbit one another while reciting, remixing, and reformulating fragments of poetry that meditate on the subject of desire. This polyphonic choreographic “score” is perpetually altered by the performers’ movements, attitudes, and affects. As the performers circulate, they begin to channel a queer archive of verses and inflections, including lines from writers such as Essex Hemphill, Eileen Myles, and Langston Hughes. These articulations of desire and the sensuality of repetition both set the rollerbladers in motion and create a tableau for them to move through.
CREDITS
Choreography
Alex Bacyzsńki-Jenkins
Originally developed in collaboration with and performed by
Zacharia Fletcher, Joseph Funnel, Imma Mess, Karl Fagerlund Brekke
Also performed by
Carlos Maria Romero and Jake Sherwood
A production
Alex Baczyński-Jenkins Studio
Studio director
Andrea Rodrigo
Studio manager
Sarie Nijboer
Management Consultant
Rui Silveira
Distribution
Something Great
Originally commissioned and produced by Liste – Art Fair Basel
Duration
2 to 3 hours
ITERATIONS
Liste – Art Fair Basel (2014); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2016); Swiss Institute, New York (2016); Do-Disturb, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2017); Les Urbaines, Arsenic, Lausanne (2017); Serralves Museum, Porto (2018); 57th October Salon, Belgrade, (2018); ImPulsTanz, mumok, Vienna (2018); Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland, as part of Alex Baczyński-Jenkins solo exhibition Such Feeling (2019)