Alone Together: Seth Pimlott with Duchamp & Sons
Whitechapel Gallery, 15 May – 12 August 2018
What happens when a group of young people create an open call for an artist residency? From some 50 artists, the Gallery’s youth forum, Duchamp & Sons chose to work with Royal College of Art, London graduate Seth Pimlott (b. 1990, UK). Pimlott makes experimental films with groups of collaborators, placing a certain faith in the power of the imagination to master one’s own narrative.
Over four months, Duchamp & Sons explored their chosen theme of ‘transition and turnings’ with the artist. Borne out of group yoga sessions, performance workshops, and explorations of memory and sensation they considered the strange allegiance and alignment between mind and body.
Their collaboration inspired two films. The first features a mysterious figure that evolves into breathing, speaking portrait of the group – a body becoming aware of itself. In the second, Duchamp & Sons are shown in action with the performance artist Nando Messias, taking their own bodies on a journey of self-discovery and expression. Alongside a narration drawn from the group’s personal experiences, a mumbling chorus of the sounds and rhythms of the body provides the soundtrack for the installation.
Alone Together invites us to imagine the body as the dynamic centre of all change and a resource for artistic exploration.
Watch trailer
