Tens---Tact is a collaborative performative drawing between Robert Luzar and M.Lohrum, in which the artists explore the notions of contact and tension, as well as the graphic language of drawing. A band of black elastic fabric about 20 centimetres wide will be tied between two columns, conceptually representing a line that ‘joins’ them. The artists establish a physical relationship, in which they use their bodies to alter the line, playing with distances and exerting tensions and occasional contacts that represent conceptual points. The action poses a dialogue on graphic language (point, line, gesture, tension) in which words do not mediate. But it also involves a reflection on the relationship between the body and architecture. During the action, the performers alternate slow movements and brief static states, and use
pieces of natural chalk from the Ssouth of the UK border – drawing upon another ‘line’ of Continental contact and tension – to create marks on the fabric. Audiences are presented with not only a dialogue between the appearance of the columns and the material used in the performance, but also a visual relationship between the columns and the bodies of the performers.  The ambiguity of the title and the action allows for an open interpretation of the artists' intention by the observers: are they using the graphic language to establish a mute dialogue between their bodies? Are they in dialogue with, or repeating as a visual echo, the structure of the space in which they perform? Are they even trying to move the columns? The two performers gradually approach each other as the action progresses, only to meet in the central zone as the action ‘draws’ to a close. The performance ends when, with the help of scissors, they cut the fabric in half; releasing the tension generated and letting the remains fall to the floor.


Tens---Tact was performed at Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
2022
© M.Lohrum & Robert Luzar