Beach Study

2012 - Film & Video (Film & Video)

Sriwhana Spong


Inspired by the 1934 novella Duo by the French writer Colette, Sriwhana Spong’s film Beach Study explores ideas of disappearance and the ephemeral, both physically and psychologically. In the film, a female body conducts abstract dance movements on a beach, responding to the environment that surrounds her. This particular beach was one the artist loved as a child, but today it is hardly accessible because it is in the hands of a private landowner. Shot on 16-millimeter film through colored filters, the film has intense flashes of magenta, violet, and amber, and other flickering “light leak” effects. The female body appears and disappears intermittently, creating a surreal and mysterious presence. The overall effect suggests a precarious relationship between memory and experience, transience and monumentality.


Indonesian-New Zealand artist Sriwhana Spong’s practice invests in notions of transition, memory, translation, and the relationship between public and private space, the intuitive and the cerebral, and the body and its surroundings. With a dance background, Spong has a strong interest in choreography and meaningful dialogues and communications that different art forms can generate with each other. Her performances and videos recalls forgotten pieces and reimagines indecipherable sources by dancers she admires such as George Balanchine’s lost ballet The Song of the Nightingale and Vaslav Nijinksy’s “To Mankind” diary entry. By manipulating the sequence of gestures with the traditions and techniques of filmmaking, Spong investigates how the dance movements can register particular events in our collective memories. For Spong, the medium of film is an anthropological tool of inquiry to the search of history, its narrative, construction, transmission and alternation in time and space. Recently, Spong’s practice has shifted to language and focus on the female body, especially toward a group of women mystic writers and creators. Spong questions the ideologies motivating social norms, women’s roles and how inventing a new language is linked to freedom of speech.


Colors:



Related works sharing similar palette

QALQALAH, third issue
© » KADIST

Third issue of QALQALAH, an editorial project by Kadist Art Foundation and Bétonsalon – Centre for Art and Research, Paris >>> To download in the “Attachment section” on the right side of the page...

Marie Watt Interviewed by Tess Bilhartz
© » BOMB

BOMB Magazine | Marie Watt Interviewed Necessary (Required) Cookies that the site cannot function properly without...

American Flag (Scratch)
© » KADIST

Collier Schorr

1999

Collier Schorr’s prints upend conventions of portrait photography by challenging what it means to “document” a subject...

Video: Catherine Opie on photographing leading British artists
© » ROYAL ACADEMY

Catherine Opie

Video: Catherine Opie on photographing leading British artists | Blog | Royal Academy of Arts Catherine Opie in the RA Collection Gallery Video: Catherine Opie on photographing leading British artists Read more Become a Friend Video: Catherine Opie on photographing leading British artists Published 8 September 2023 Catherine Opie discusses her portraits of David Hockney, Anish Kapoor, Gillian Wearing, Isaac Julien and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, featured in our free display in the Collection Gallery...

Peter Rostovsky by David Levine
© » BOMB

BOMB Magazine | Peter Rostovsky Necessary (Required) Cookies that the site cannot function properly without...

Italian Official Accused of Laundering Stolen Painting Resigns
© » HYPERALLERGIC

Italian Official Accused of Laundering Stolen Painting Resigns Skip to content Vittorio Sgarbi resigned from his post as Junior Culture Minister in Italy...

The melting glaciers of Karakoram – in pictures
© » THE GUARDIAN

The melting glaciers of Karakoram – in pictures | Art and design | The Guardian Skip to main content From the agencies The melting glaciers of Karakoram – in pictures A view of the Passu glacier in the Karakoram mountain range in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan...

Chelsea Wolfe Says Witchcraft and Sobriety Informed Her Latest Album
© » KQED

Interview: Chelsea Wolfe Talks Witchcraft and Her New Album | KQED Skip to Nav Skip to Main Skip to Footer upper waypoint The Do List Chelsea Wolfe Says Witchcraft and Sobriety Informed Her Latest Album Krysta Fauria, Associated Press Feb 8 Save Article Save Article Failed to save article Please try again Email Chelsea Wolfe performing in June 2022...

Robert Storr's 'Retinal Hysteria' Responds to Our Cultural Anxiety
© » ART & OBJECT

An Interview with Curator Robert Storr | Art & Object Skip to main content Subscribe to our free e-letter! Webform Your Email Address Role Art Collector/Enthusiast Artist Art World Professional Academic Country USA Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua & Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Ascension Island Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia & Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Canary Islands Cape Verde Caribbean Netherlands Cayman Islands Central African Republic Ceuta & Melilla Chad Chile China Christmas Island Clipperton Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo - Brazzaville Congo - Kinshasa Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czechia Côte d’Ivoire Denmark Diego Garcia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard & McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong SAR China Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao SAR China Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar (Burma) Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands North Korea North Macedonia Norway Oman Outlying Oceania Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Islands Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Réunion Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka St...

Jean Miotte
© » SLASH PARIS

Jean Miotte — Galerie Almine Rech — Exposition — Slash Paris Connexion Newsletter Twitter Facebook Jean Miotte — Galerie Almine Rech — Exposition — Slash Paris Français English Accueil Événements Artistes Lieux Magazine Vidéos Retour Jean Miotte Exposition Peinture Jean Miotte, Sans titre, 2000 (Détail) Acrylique sur toile — 99,1 × 81,3 × 2,5 cm Courtesy of the artist & Galerie Almine Rech, Paris Jean Miotte Encore 11 jours : 18 novembre → 22 décembre 2023 Jean Miotte (1926-2016), qui a exposé à Paris avec Joan Mitchell, Jean-Paul Riopelle et Sam Francis, est une des figures éminentes de l’abstraction lyrique...

What Color
© » KADIST

Luke Murphy

2016

What Color is Luke Murphy’s outstanding digital painting that elegantly loops in nonstop motion...

A public platform awaits you with ‘Red Stage’ by Rashid Johnson
© » CREATIVETIME

A public platform awaits you with 'Red Stage' by Rashid Johnson - Creative Time A public platform awaits you with ‘Red Stage’ by Rashid Johnson May 12th, 2021 Tweet Email Creative Time is pleased to present artist Rashid Johnson’s Red Stage , a participatory steel sculpture that celebrates the vibrancy and creativity found in New York’s public spaces as the city awakens from the COVID-19 pandemic...

M.I.R. Artist Tour & Tarasov Soviet Cartoon Screenings
© » KADIST

Director of Cosmic Affairs for the Museum of Russian History, Arseniy Zhilyaev, will deliver a private tour of the exhibition...

“Global?” 1 & “Global?” 2
© » KADIST

Yogesh Barve

2013

Global? 1 & 2 documents an annual event during which people of a particular religious group gather around Jejuri in Maharashtra, India...

Richard T Walker: the security of impossibility
© » KADIST

Part two of the Kadist Summer Music Series, artist Richard T...

M.I.R. Artist Tour & Tarasov Soviet Cartoon Screenings
© » KADIST

Director of Cosmic Affairs for the Museum of Russian History, Arseniy Zhilyaev, will deliver a private tour of the exhibition...