Gordon Hall

Five pairs of sculptures wrought from chrome cantilever chair structures stand in impermanent positions throughout The Kitchen's sunlit loft. These abstracted chairs hold horizontal platforms that allow bodies to recline in specific and unexpected ways. The sculptures wait for bodies to reshape themselves around them, anticipating the possibility of use. Prostrate on these unconventional supports, suspended performers likewise await further movement. Animated by a transgender politics that questions the norms that govern embodied life, Hands and Knees extends Gordon Hall's investigation into the politics of vulnerability and corporeal support. Performers demonstrate possible engagements with the sculptures in weekly performances that emerge from Hall's inquiry into the paradoxical interplay of dependency and liberation in moments of waiting.

Hall's approach to sculpture is shaped by their background in dance, emphasizing how we coexist with objects in shared space: "From the start, I was thinking about our bodies as incredible objects that can be trained and transformed—not in a degrading way, but as a way of respecting the fundamental power of the physical world, our bodies included. I make sculpture as a way of exploring these embodied possibilities." For that reason, Hall's sculptures always precede their accompanying choreography, which is generated in response to the sculptures. Ultimately, Hands and Knees imagines bodies emancipated from their prescribed uses. "Part of what I love about objects is that they always exceed what we might hope for them, even as the maker," says Hall. "There's a politics of taking materiality seriously on its own terms, not as a mere tool for our goals."

Stripped of their seats and backs and reshaped into new geometric structures, the hardware of the Breuer-popularized and mass-reproduced chair is both recognizable and abstract. The snaking steel forms once designed for support now open themselves to new uses. Draped over the sculptures, performers carry one another throughout the space, ultimately reorganizing the object's positions in the gallery. They rest in their new arrangement—static but animated with potential—until they, once again, encounter other constantly transforming objects: human bodies.

Performances will occur in the gallery at variable, unannounced times during regular gallery hours on May 9, 10, 17, 24, and 31. Free, no RSVP required. Performers include Justin Cabrillos, Margaret Cirino, Samie Konet, Daniel Ricardo Rocha, Arzu Salman, Nikkie Samreth, evan ray suzuki, and Karley Wasaff.

Gordon Hall: Hands and Knees is organized by Matthew Lyons, Curator. Production by David Riley, Production & Exhibitions Manager, and Tassja Walker, Production Supervisor, The Kitchen.