Simone Forti's Sculpture Made of People
Gillian Garcia's special photo and video commission offers a closer look at Huddle, the performance that interlocks the performers' bodies
Gillian Garcia's special photo and video commission offers a closer look at Huddle, the performance that interlocks the performers' bodies
On view during Frieze Week, MOCA presents a retrospective of the pioneering Los Angeles artist, Simone Forti.
The first such exhibition on the West Coast, it will include weekly performances of her ‘Dance Constructions’ (1960–61), which drew on Forti’s studies in Marin County with choreographer Anna Halprin. Described by Forti as dances that ‘also can be seen as sculpture made of people’, the schedule includes Huddle, in which performers interlock their bodies, creating a surface for one breakaway performer at a time to climb over, eventually reaching solid ground and rejoining the group.
Rehearsal of Simone Forti, Huddle, 1961, performance view, performed at MOCA Grand Avenue, 2022. Courtesy: The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Committee on Media and Performance Art Funds and © 2022 The Museum of Modern Art, New York.; photograph: Gillian Garcia
Rehearsal of Simone Forti, Huddle, 1961, performance view, performed at MOCA Grand Avenue, 2022. Courtesy: The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Committee on Media and Performance Art Funds and © 2022 The Museum of Modern Art, New York; photograph: Gillian Garcia
Rehearsal of Simone Forti, Huddle, 1961, performance view, performed at MOCA Grand Avenue, 2022. Courtesy: The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Committee on Media and Performance Art Funds and © 2022 The Museum of Modern Art, New York; photograph: Gillian Garcia
Rehearsal of Simone Forti, Huddle, 1961, performance view, performed at MOCA Grand Avenue, 2022. Courtesy: The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Committee on Media and Performance Art Funds and © 2022 The Museum of Modern Art, New York; photograph: Gillian Garcia
Rehearsal of Simone Forti, Huddle, 1961, performance view, performed at MOCA Grand Avenue, 2022. Courtesy: The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Committee on Media and Performance Art Funds and © 2022 The Museum of Modern Art, New York; photograph: Gillian Garcia
Rehearsal of Simone Forti, Huddle, 1961, performance view, performed at MOCA Grand Avenue, 2022. Courtesy: The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Committee on Media and Performance Art Funds and © 2022 The Museum of Modern Art, New York; photograph: Gillian Garcia
During preparations for the exhibition, photographer and director Gillian Garcia was granted access to the rehearsals for Huddle to create a special photo commission for Frieze Week. Capturing the patient labor of the performers as they realise this piece anew, Garcia creates a warm visual poem about parts and the whole, support and surrender, tension and joy.
Huddle is performed by Loay Al Derazi, Rodrigo Arruda, Alan Duff Berman, Miles Brenninkmeijer, John Brutle, Kyla Carter, Milka Djordjevich, Alexsa Durrans, Gabriela Enciso, Jennifer Galipo, Abriel Gardner, Chelsea Gaspard, Peter Kalisch, Zoe Rappaport, Kim Schnaubert, Michelle Sui, devika wickremesinghe, and Melina Wilcox.
Instruction by Carmela Hermann Dietrich.
Performance Coordination by Sarah Swenson.
‘Simone Forti’ is on view through April 2 at MOCA Grand Avenue, Los Angeles
This visual essay first appeared in Frieze Week, February 2023 under the headline 'Lean In'
In a special collaboration with MOCA, Huddle will also be performed at Frieze Los Angeles on Friday, February 17, 11:15AM and 12PM; and Saturday, February 18, 3:15PM and 3:45PM. Find out more here
