Leonor Serrano Rivas, Harmonic Motion

Text by Angels Miralda

Lying still in a Garden of Eden          -          A thick and luxurious cover of vegetation

Density of leaves beyond anything seen before. Leaves as big and thick as plates from which you eat, big enough to catch falling fruit, to wrap yourself in. They are also big enough to prohibit entrance to the forest, walking through it they catch you, the jungle becomes impassible as unknown plant species spring backwards and forwards revealing more foliage behind it rather than space. Birds of paradise, luminous feathered coats. Only the flitting birds progress, they call out to each other in clear chirps. The trembling of a twig when bird takes off into the air. Birds of Paradise. Their coats of such exuberant colors add festivity to the green landscape. The camera focuses on their faces and beaked tongues that send out chirps and signals. To a friend, an enemy, a lover?

A scene between two young lovers – awkward flirtation – Occasional timid smiles

Behind us, a projector, throwing images past us. We stand between and obscure the light. The birds hide behind huge leaves and behind our shadows. Jumping from branch to branch. The image shows social codes of these birds, they communicate with each other in a courtship ritual. The famed dances of birds of paradise are a performance learned from their parents. The birds then tweak, perfect, and individualize the dance through generations. The highly choreographed dances contain complex steps and movements that use the body and agility of the male birds. Female birds watch the dance and ultimately decide which dances will pass on to the next generation of birds. These intricate dances are the product of years of practice of the young males, born dancers, they begin practicing before they molt into their adult feathers.

Performance – Practiced – Choreographed – Intricate – Inherited – Ritual – Dance

In front of these birds stand the audience, attempting to see the images as well as obscuring and forming part of the final assemblage. A tension exists in this natural scene and our very human impact on it. As we socialize in the gallery space, the birds socialize in their natural realm. One in front of the other, we compare our codes and customs. Birds fly above us daily, blocking the light of the sun and casting shadows on the city street. This time the projection comes from our angle. Filmed by an author and placed indoors, light and nature turns in the hands of produced spaces and images. The zoomed camera angles capture the birds in motifs of communication, one to the other chanting in songs they’ve learned from each other. Similarly, as codes learned and designed for the transfer of information, these images capture us, how close up they can get to these tropical birds in brilliant colors, the charged emotion of the interactions between airborne communities.

Birds of Paradise   –   Fallen Plumage   –   A Shrill Note   –   Wings Spread   –   Chatter

Not only do our bodies disrupt the image, but also an array of objects. Each object mysterious until approached individually. Brushes, sticks, long plastic leaves belonging possibly to houseplants. They dangle from thin strings suspended from the ceiling. There are two stark environments created that interfere with each other while maintaining the separation. The use of studio objects is meant to emphasize the difference between our bodies and what is projected, to juxtapose the man-made and its fascination with replicating nature. The role of production in human social codes is visual. The artist produces, the dancer performs choreographic movements. Production of objects, visual codes, the stringing together of sentences with social relevance.

Gallery floor   –   Private view   –   Staging   –   Consuming   –   Making an appearance

Bamboo shoots have some of the highest growth rates in the world; they can grow 3 centimeters per hour. Vertical bars that, as weeds, veil an image. Slim leaves obstruct the projection in long whispering stripes. Nothing but an outline. A fan purrs, projecting air through its blades against the other objects. A small storm of air and light - sounds and silences. The projection is not only in the image, but also in the outlines. The objects serve our social purposes; they are tools for human interaction and making. An artist’s tools become hidden behind the product. Here they are exposed. The paintbrush in front of the image reflects on the making not only of images, of the film and captured birds, but also of the situation we design for ourselves.

Human figures standing the way    -    Motion sensors detecting our movements

Opposed to each other, we react in silence. The birds are in their social realm and we are in ours. We still hold the advantage, the projection is an image appropriated into our space, we are still in control of nature in a technological habitat, in the gallery space, within the parameters of architecture and design. Even the image that exposes the social customs of a bird species follows their movement from a human point of view, the projection and the image itself as a product of our social order. The movement of things is always a reaction. Cause and Effect.  The motion sensors in the work capture our movements through the gallery space, and, like the reaction to the choreography of birds, objects begin to move…

Dances in the everyday      –      Social codes      –     Time to take flight      –      Paradise