STOCKHOLM.- Since the start in 2006, Bonniers Konsthall has been exploring the relations between contemporary art and other areas of culture, including literature, theatre, film and music, in thematic group exhibitions. Now it is time for art and choreography. Body Talk opened as a part of Dans<3Stockholm, a brand new international contemporary dance festival.

Sharon Lockhart, Noa Eshkol and An Kaler share an interest in the particularities of the human body. If there is one common denominator that should be pointed out, it would be their shared sensitivity for how a single body relates to space and given situations. The body is never addressed as something idealized or essential, but rather something that is situated and specific. From that insight the three artists develop their own individual and strong voice within visual art and dance.

Sharon Lockhart and Noa Eshkol
In 2008, during a research visit to Israel, Sharon Lockhart (b.1964) discovered the remarkable work of Israeli dance composer and textile artist Noa Eshkol (1924–2007). While Eshkol could have chosen a life in New York, where art and dance flourished in the experimental and dynamic 1960s and 70s, she instead remained relatively secluded with a close group of individuals, creating dance compositions and textile art and ultimately developing a dance notation system with architect and collaborator Avraham Wachman. Lockhart’s research led her to a number of dancers from Eshkol’s group who continue her training at the composer’s home and studio outside Tel Aviv. It was there that Lockhart also unearthed a large number of Eshkol’s textile works, or “wall carpets.” Over the course of the following two years, Lockhart created a suite of work based on the story of Noa Eshkol, including serial photographs showing models Eshkol created to describe the Eshkol Wachmann movement notation system and a film installation with four of Eshkol’s dance compositions performed by Ruti Sela. Lockhart’s photographs and single-channel installation are accompanied here by a selection of Eshkol’s wall carpets in a site-specific architectural intervention designed by her collaborators Escher GuneWardena. Sharon Lockhart’s participation in Body Talk is a prelude to a large-scale solo exhibition of her work, which will open at Bonniers Konsthall in April 2014.

Dance performance and open rehearsal with Noa Eshkol Chamber Dance Group
During Body Talk, audiences will have the rare opportunity to see the Noa Eshkol Chamber Dance Group perform dances by Noa Eshkol, with four dancers ranging from their 30s to early 70s, some of whom remain from Eshkol’s original group. It will also be possible to take part in a workshop with the group.

Dance performance by An Kaler
Also participating in Body Talk is Austrian choreographer An Kaler (b. 1982) with the dance performance On Orientations | Untimely Encounters. Untimely Encounters is part of a choreographic series exploring different notions of orientation. The piece is adapted for each invitation and venue, and finds it’s current version with and in each performance of it. On Orientations | Untimely Encounters investigates orientation in relation to touch – exploring moments of contact that appear through both distance and proximity.