Art Installation Review: William Forsythe

22nd May, 2014

Review: Nowhere and Everywhere at the Same Time No. 2 

Having finished a rather busy Wednesday at the Nexus office I felt that a bit of relaxation and culture was due. You could say that choosing to visit William Forsythe's installation in the middle of the week, after work, with the conclusion of Brighton festival fast approaching enhanced my experience and I found it far more touching than expected.
With my knowledge of Forsythe's previous installations, in particular Scattered Crowd 2002 (an installation I would have loved to have visited) I was certainly intrigued to see how a Brighton warehouse housing hundreds of pendulums would covey its proposed blend of choreography and art.

Luckily it was relatively quiet on arrival a small mix of people like myself, just out of the office and a few after school mums who brought their children to have a run around and a bit of a play within this alternative playground. Having spent a few minutes taking in the mechanics and figuring out how this thing is put together I stepped within the forest of pendulums and began slowly swerving my way through to get to the other side.

I quickly started to play my own game of trying to get through the pendulums without swerving at all - just walk straight, as you would normally - an almost contradictory approach to the dance inducing notion this installation proposes. This approach was possibly slightly fuelled by the attendance of a women who, you could say, was taking her visit all too literally as she weaved, twisted and turned her contemporary dance way across the floor. Although rather impressive this slightly dented the more tranquil feeling I'd gained on arrival.

Having said this one of the main interests for me was observing how others embraced the experience. In fact, I found the children's approach to navigating their way through the delicate pendulums more intriguing - they assumed a far more natural and flowing form of movement, which the installation seemed to bring out in them.

In short my interpretation of 'Nowhere and Everywhere at the Same Time No. 2' is it's all about appreciating the space that surrounds you. The mesmerising movements of each pendulum encourages you to consider which path you'll take and how you'll get around these fragile obstacles in order to get to the other side, which I suppose can be understood literally and symbolically at the same time.

The installation closes this Sunday 25/05/14 with the final day of Brighton Festival so if you can find the time this week I highly recommend you check this out. For more images check out our Facebook page.