‘I become a question for you’ is a 2-channel video work commissioned by University of Salford Art Collection and Per.Platform. It documents the process of two artists, Nicola Dale and Florence Lam, located in different time zones, working together to construct an improvised performance through which they question the qualities of online connection. Using words, sounds and movement, they oscillate between communication, incomprehension, unity and isolation, striving to collaborate despite the immense physical distance between them.
The work was formed through online meetings over several weeks. During this time, the artists sought to get to know each other’s impulses and methods. They discussed the possibilities and anxieties around collaborating digitally. They found common interests – duration, touch, site – but not all of these could easily be shared at a distance. They had to be re-imagined. The film explores the ambiguity of portraying the artists’ physical existence while flattening it into a digital presence.
Throughout the idea generation process, delays and technical difficulties created a sense of unease, but when edited into a narrative, these errors and blockages became performative. Echoes, distortions and lapses became materials as much as speech or movement. Both the performance and resulting documentation embrace the ways in which every aspect of processes previously familiar became strange. Collaboration, communication, performance, presence and documentation became questions. Unbridgeable gaps became points of connection.
Performers: Nicola Dale (UK), Florence Lam (HK)
Camera: Darren Nixon (UK), Chan Tze Woon (HK)
Editing: Chan Tze Woon
Concept: Nicola Dale, Florence Lam, Darren Nixon, Chan Tze Woon
ARTWORK
I Become A Question For You can be viewed here
ARTIST DETAILS
Click links below for more information about the artists who collaborated on this project.
UK artist (for University of Salford Art Collection):
Hong Kong artist (for Per.Platform):