Published in Visual Arts News
Jen E. Norton’s video installation, Slipstream is a full-body experience that begins with being guided through a near complete dark space towards flourishing figures and the deep, rumbling sounds of turbulent air. Six large monitors are positioned in a wide circle that surrounds the viewer as figures and sound whirl across them. In this work, there is no specific beginning or end point - no front or back, left or right.
Moving across these screens is a dancing figure in flowing fabric, occasionally articulated with subtle animation. The body of the dancer itself has been removed, leaving only their body’s imprint and influence on the costume. The figure moves quickly across the screens, in and out of view always accompanied by this intense whirring sound of heavy fabric through air. These simple elements come together in a way that entirely transcends their reality. The figures transform into an other-worldly creature - whips of light caught out of the corner of your eye - a shy, fast-moving apparition preceded and followed by the sound of giant, flapping wings or jets overhead. In viewing this work you cannot stand still, or look in a single direction. There is a game in trying to follow the figure and predict its next appearance by listening for it in the darkened room. At times the figure appears larger than life, almost confrontationally as one might imagine the presentation of a new-testament angel, frightening and awesome.
The work is rich with feelings of tension; fear and wonder. Placed in context of Norton’s research, Slipstream harkens to a time when science and magic were not so clearly delineated. Surrounded by this work its easy to imagine a time when holograms were magic, and seances were both serious ritual and entertainment. Created during her time at a residency in Paris, Norton brings together elements of turn of the century architecture, performance and science. Slipstream is a re-imagining of the works of choreographer Loïe Fuller, a pioneer of modern dance known for her use of mirrors, elaborate costume and emergent technology. Fuller ran in the same circles as Thomas Edison, and was an inventor and illusionist as well as an artist. Despite the incredible influence of her work, her identity has been, unsurprisingly, largely erased from history. Slipstream is Norton’s journey of recapturing the lost genius of a woman during the early modern age, while at the same time exploring Fuller’s erasure.
Slipstream beautifully brings together the cleanliness and crispness of our most modern technology with early 1900’s imagery. In bringing these elements together in the context Fuller’s story, we come to see a complex relationship that Norton has with Modernity. This work’s emotional tension speaks to the amazement and fear that can be experienced in the face of change. Feelings that may once have been felt about electricity or even a woman’s right to vote. While there is a celebration of that time’s creative results - its architecture, its dance, there exists in this work a deep questioning of its oppression and ignorance. The powerful sounds in this work, and ghostly animations give it a timeless quality while the colours and shapes of the dancing figure show a direct reference to the Art Nouveau movement. The most powerful metaphor is the actual erasure of the dancer herself. We are left with the breathtaking beauty of the dancer’s movement, yet she herself is unknown.
Loïe Fuller’s tale is one of a woman who was immensely innovative in her techniques of combining modern science and art, with an influence on art so powerful it eclipsed her own name. Norton looks to Fuller as a fearless feminist icon, reminded of the all-to-common story of how the creative and scientific contributions of women are too easily lost in history. In reimagining her work in this contemporary context, Norton presents the joys an struggles experienced by her icon, and makes one great effort towards giving her the recognition she deserves.
Slipstream was exhibited at the Mt. St. Vincent University Gallery from January 12 – March 3, 2019. Slipstream was curated by Linda Jansma and Crystal Mowry and organized and circulated by the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in collaboration with the Kitchener-Waterloo Gallery.
Jen E. Norton, based in Guelph, Ontario, is an interdisciplinary media artist and is currently pursuing a PhD in Visual Arts at York University.