In Tramway 1, Douglas Gordon decade ’24 Hour Psycho Back and Forth and To and Fro’

Tramway 2, Swiss artist Christoph Büchel New Commission

Trespass/Desire Diane Torr Le Drapeau Noir

http://www.tramway.org

I hadn’t read any reviews before I went to the Tramway.  I knew it had been causing controversy but I didn’t really consider it. This day was filled with two shows that is all that I could do.

The first show I went into was by Douglas Gordon ’24 Hour Psycho Back and Forth and To and Fro’

Glasgow is so lucky to have a venue as big and encompassing as Tramway. It is an amazing place harbouring tiny gems of performances and huge installations.

The space is stunning the visual presence and composition of this work is beautiful. I of course was not allowed to take any images in either show so I have supplemented your imagination with a small memory drawing.

This work is worth going to see and experience for yourself and worth re visiting if you are so lucky. The aesthetic is so clean and sharp, and the movement of the film is slow in contrast to the small composition of screens across the gallery it was like being in a Hitchcock film. The physical sensation created by this work is one of suspension and being physically aware of your own body.

Christoph Büchel New Commission

This work left me in shock and extremely exhausted. It is intense, challenging, banal, and offensive to the senses on all levels, vulgar, vulnerable, and all consuming. I was consumed, chewed up and spat out at the end. This is probably the most challenging work I have seen so far. The content is personal; the ugliest monster my own psyche could invent was brought in front of me. The smell, the stillness the skeleton of this work was intense and nauseating, moving around in the space was invasive to a sense of self-preservation.

Extremely powerful. I won’t be going back. Liking a piece of work and being able to constructively see the value are two different things. I did not enjoy it, but it may be the most incredible work of the festival.

I had to take a rest and really think and consider the work, it was shocking.

I rested and repaired, and went to see Diane Torr perform Trespass/ Desire at Le Drapeau Noir.

There was a spontaneous sheep amongst the crowd, rubbing up against the patrons…this is how the evening started

Trespass/Desire

Torr is the content; she is not your predictable performer, not sleek bodied, young or well-polished dancer. She is a woman, mature, intense and a serious performer. Her presence and actions are dramatic, expressive, intense; movement that conveyed anti-polish, exploration of space, and also content related to exploring the body in space and time, her space and her time.Torr danced in two parts, her second half involved bananas, suggestive, sexy, humorous I loved it.  Too bad you missed it.

I have a very bad dark video clip I will post to accompany the blog. Thanks Diane Torr for keeping it real.