Fusing poetry, live performance art and creative technology, Kairos is the second collaboration between artists Loren Fetterman and Stefanie Elrick, whose May 2013 piece Written in Skin saw Fetterman use the semi-permanent tattooing technique of blood-lining to etch publicly sourced poems onto Elrick’s body.
In ancient Greece, two concepts of time existed side by side: Chronos, the linear and objective, the steady pulse of the modern clock; and Kairos, a more subjective notion of time that recognised organic, rhythmic patterns of interwoven feelings and emotions. In this new piece, the pair present a 10-foot mechanised time piece that represents Kairos and explores our relationship with time through movement, poetry and drawing.
During Kairos, Elrick will be secured to the central disc of the four concentric wheels turning constantly. Throughout the duration of the performance Loren will paint an elemental mandala – a spiritual and ritual symbol representing the universe – and transcribe the poem, again constructed from the writing submissions of the public, onto the rotating wheel and across Elrick’s body as she recites the words, unifying the cyclical experiences of strangers into one voice.
The live performance takes place on Saturday 31 January from 12:00 – 18:00, and the fully transcribed wheel will be on display for closer viewing on Sunday 1 February.