Osías Yanov: Orphan Dance

Preview: Wednesday, April 11, 6:30-8:30pm
Opening performance: Wednesday, April 11, 7pm
Closing performance: Saturday, June 9, 2pm 

Gasworks presents Orphan Dance, the first UK solo exhibition and a major new commission by Buenos Aires-based artist Osías Yanov.

Developed on site during his residency at Gasworks, the exhibition transforms the gallery into a ritual space in which to reimagine the relationships between humans and machines. Using and re-contextualising materials and devices often found in homes, offices, gyms and nightclubs as ceremonial objects, it explores how human interactions with technology can be staged and enacted differently, in ways that emphasise and disrupt the binaries of master and slave, user and service provider, domination and submission.

Leading into the gallery, a ladder of strip lights emanates violet light in gradually deeper tones, passing through an architecturally-reconfigured entranceway, decorated with gaudy vases brimming with pinwheels and peacock feathers. Inside, the violet light is offset by a green glow and the floors, walls and ceilings are covered with silver paint and metallic, textured vinyl, lending a machine-like quality to every surface. Hand-carved interlocking gym mats and functioning but ineffectual security turnstiles divide the space, reading both as sculptures and markers of territory. When they are not resting, several robot vacuum cleaners are on patrol like sentinels, guiding and sucking their way around, providing a rhythm of utility and automation. Breaches occur during the opening and close of the exhibition, when performers enter the scene, accentuating human desire and agency while at the same time further short-circuiting functionality.

Orphan Dance is commissioned and produced by Gasworks. Osías Yanov’s residency was supported by Erica Roberts and developed in partnership with URRA and arteBA, Argentina.

Spring Open Studios
Open studios: Saturday, June 10, 12–6pm
Artists’ talks: Saturday, June 10, 4pm

Lydia Debeer (Belgium), hosted in the  Sackler Residency Studio
Antoni Hervàs (Spain), hosted in the Outset Residency Studio
Jithin Lal (India), hosted in the Roberts Residency Studio
Antonio Vega Macotela (Mexico), hosted in the Juan Yarur Torres Residency Studio

Gasworks’ current international artists in residence open their studios to the public throughout the day on Saturday, June 10. Open studios and artists’ talks offer audiences a unique opportunity to see, hear about and discuss the research and work-in-progress that these artists have been developing during their residencies.

Gasworks’ current residencies are supported by Acción Cultural Española (AC/E); Charles Wallace India Trust and Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation;  Kunsten en Erfgoed; and The Shelagh Wakely Bequest, administered by the Elephant Trust.