Misuse / Displace

In this workshop with Kate McIntosh participants will be working in the studio and the surrounding area.

Participants concentrate on the interaction of objects, materials and locations as strategies to build metaphoric imagery and action. McIntosh presents development tools and games that she used during the making of two of her works – the performance Dark Matter and the video installation De-Placed (a collaboration with Eva Meyer-Keller). Both of these pieces rely on the interaction of objects and materials to push forward the ideas in the work – in a sense making the materials become performers. Kate presents these strategies as working tools, which the participants can then explore and extend practically for themselves, both individually and in collaboration with other participants.

The work comes directly from McIntosh’s fascination with scenography, with the physical traces left by actions, and with the ambiguity of metaphors generated by playing with materials. In her work this is often explored through the tension of misusing or displacing objects in unexpected and disconcerting relations. The workshop also circles around ideas to do with the performativity of demonstrations and material processes, around language and non-language metaphors, and around installations built in found locations.

McIntosh’s own background is in performance, but the workshop is also useful for scenographers and visual artists who are interested in developing their play with materials, towards a possible performance element.

Kate McIntosh is a Brussels-based artist who practices across the boundaries of performance, theatre, video and installation. Her works often focus on the physicality of both performer and audience, the manipulation of objects and materials, and the development of direct relations with and between audience members. McIntosh’s practice is guided by her ongoing fascinations with the misuse of objects, playfulness with the public, a love of theatrical images and an off-beat humour.