Converge Diverge,
Performative drawings made in public spaces during three hour sessions of uninterrupted work. The finished pieces were exhibited and a set of collaborative performances emerged from them.
Exhibited at
Performative drawing and collaboration have been central to Paola’s work for years. The artist sees the body as the locus of both personal and cultural narratives. Institutional oppression begins with the control of bodies and with the regulation of drives and impulses. In a time of mass displacement and forced migrations the body can become the only home left to inhabit, and bodies, in revolt, war or natural disasters, perform in the spectacle of TV and online news.
For Converge Diverge, the artist explored the possibility of building an installation that also functioned as a stage set in the theatrical sense. Sound became part of the drawing performances, prompting synaesthetic responses. Collaborating with Fiona Quilligan was an initiation into the choreographic process.. DJ and broadcaster Nigel Wood brought his vast world music collection and his expertise to the project. Thanks to Sami Moukaddem for offering the use of his music to this project.
Two earlier solo exhibitions, Natural Artifice at Soma Contemporary in 2014, and Body Drawings, at Pallas projects in Dublin in 2012, had displayed Catizone’s two hand drawings, performance videos and other drawings and paintings. Choreographer Fiona Quilligan was a guest performer at the openings.
Converge Diverge emerged from these earlier iterations. In The back Loft, Catizone’s earlier drawings were shown and new work was also made in situ, with the addition of sound added to the drawing process.