Thinking with the Body

A version of this exhibit first showed at the Wellcome Collection in 2013 as one of four rooms comprising a larger exhibit entitled “Thinking with the body: mind and movement in the work of Wayne McGregor | Random Dance”. In its six-week stay slightly more than 30,000 people visited it.

A layered mass of projected images and footage showcases the research processes of cognitive scientist David Kirsh, exploring the patterns of behavior and modes of communication occurring continuously between choreographer and dancers working together in the rehearsal studio. The installation, compiled by Kirsh and film-maker David Bickerstaff, combines interview and rehearsal documentation, providing a fascinating account of Kirsh’s work on distributed cognition with the company: the interplay of memory, knowledge and environment that underwrites dancers’ physical grammar of gestures, including marking and sketching, in the generation of dance phrases and the organization of choreographic structures. [Wellcome Collection Aug 7^th 2013]

Credits:

David Bickerstaff, filmmaker and installation designer, London UK

David Kirsh, content, script outline. Prof Cognitive Science, UCSD.