A project by Nicolina Stylianou
the demo performance is performed by Melissa Garcia Carro, Ioli Kaskani and Nicolina Stylianou
Inflated Liquidity is a body-sculpture instrument in its prototyping form developed during my artistic residency at Thinker Maker Space of CYENS Centre of Excellence.
Inflated Liquidity – prototype 01, consists of two bellows, a soundbox and eight flue pipes. The bellows host the air and through body movements and applied pressure the performers send the air to the soundbox. The flue pipes let the wind pass through a slit and hit the upper lip and further cause the wind to oscillate. The oscillation is produced by an in-out repetitive movement.
The sounds of Inflated Liquidity are equally dependent on the performers’ body movements, strength and synergy that actively interact with the vibrating sound waves of the sculpture. Creating a performative loop between the body, the movement and the sound through and within the body-sculptures. Inflated Liquidity is a co-inhabitant of multiple spaces (body, structure, rules and play, space) and a process to explore relational communication between bodies in space. The instrument’s rhetorics discuss the social, intimacy, play and pleasure, humour, the act of consent and the negotiation of space and agency. The work traces the mechanics of Hydraulis, Pipe Organ, Accordion, bagpipe, and the 19th c. Suspension machines for musculoskeletal therapy, treatment and strength.
With this performative instrument I aim to study and develop questions related to communication systems and how playground communities are formulated. My starting point questions are: how is the communal created through play, freedom, and structure? What kind of communication systems, challenges, and dynamics the communal create? How do the non-verbal rules of play influence how the communal organises itself, and with what means do they attempt to claim their ontologies within the space?
Special Thanks to CYENS – Thinker Maker Space of Centre of Excellence and its stuff for the inspiring support throughout this process, to Archimedes Ltd and to Sipone Textiles, as well as to friends and family for their psychological support. The people who contributed with their support, assistance, and advice are: Alex Charalambous, Andrea Hadjinicola, Andreas Mallouris, Angela Ioannidou, Antonis Antoniou, Archimedes Ltd, Christos Christodoulou, Constantinos Stylianou, Elena Stylianou, Giorgos Aloneftis, Giorgos Dimoglou, Ioli Kaskani, Kyriaki Yiakoupi, Kyriakos Adamou, Maria Efstathiou – NIMAC, Maria Georgiou, Maria Loizou, Marios Charalambous, Marios Constantinides, Melissa Garcia Carro, Mr. Petros, Nemo Nonnenmacher, Pavlos Gavrielides, Polina Poulcheriou, Sipone Textiles, Stella Taousiani, and Stratis Pantelides.