The 2010s have seen the emergence of the choreographic in major galleries and museums. Choreographers such as William Forsythe, Siobhan Davies and Xavier Le Roy are expanding their practices into installation art, while artists such as Tino Sehgal, Alexandra Pirici and Anne Imhof are working with choreographic concepts and strategies. The current choreographic turn raises new issues regarding the relationships between the performative, the choreographic and the visual in gallery settings, which have been studied by scholars such as André Lepecki (2017 and 2012), Susan Leigh Foster (2010) and Claire Bishop (2017). However, the relevance, influence and methodological impact of the choreographic within the artist’s studio have not been addressed: what this turn implies for artistic production before the encounter with the viewer remains unclear. This context has led to my research question: how might artists integrate choreographic approaches in their processes of making to explore performativity within a site? This research focuses mainly on studio practice, and is less concerned with the experience of the audience.
To address this question, I examined the choreographic through a practice-based research approach informed by my artistic practice. Utilising distinct mediums such as video, performance and installation in different forms and contexts, I produced five site-responsive artworks combining installation with choreographic approaches. I investigated how the choreographic influences, contributes to and manifests in the making process, and conceptualised its role in shaping new ways of thinking about making. This study contributes new knowledge to the field by arguing that the integration of the choreographic with installation practices fosters a conception of the site as performative. Furthermore, I developed a tool for transforming a site into a performative site – the choreovisual model (CM), which is comprised of three spheres of action: tracing, mapping and situating. In my proposed method, a listening outlook underpins the three action spheres; the rehearsal process emphasises the relevance of the site as a situational context for drawing with movement; and an iterative approach involving working with both live and digital movement is central. The model offers artists working in installation, sculpture, dance and performance a process which emphasises the potential and the challenges of producing artistic work that approaches site performatively.
As an in-depth study of the emerging relationships between installation art and choreography, this research examines, clarifies and highlights how an expanded choreographic practice may take place in installation art. In doing so, the study also addresses the need for a suitable terminology to identify, discuss and specify the current choreographic turn. I propose the new term choreovisual practice to refer to visual artistic projects which consider the body, the site and movement at the core of the work, developed through processes of making which are directly informed by choreographic approaches. The research contributes to current debates on installation art and choreography as expanded fields of practice, widens the understanding of evolving contemporary artistic trends, and repositions the current perception of the relationships between the visual, the choreographic and the site.
