IPP2 Christian Kipp Workshop

Christian Kipp is a photographer who collaborates with dance artists. We began the session by looking at some of his previous work. I noticed that in many of the collection, the composition of objects and landscapes looked as if there were many layers to each photo.

I was particularly interested in this photo from ‘Highlands’ as you could really see the detail of the textures on the stony rocks at the bottom of the photograph. This rough image juxtaposed with the smoother, cloudy sky. The mountain and lake almost separates the two textures.

I was very interested to hear how he collaborated with dance artists. He spoke about how he attended rehearsals and took photos of the dancers, space and process, then later when the dance work was complete, an exhibition of the photographs he took could be placed within the performance environment. Christian Kipp worked with Amy Voris on ‘Sift’ and ‘Sift 2’. They collaborated with light, projections and movement. We were shown the sequence of images that were projected in the performance and then we had the chance to explore these.

The space was completely dark and at first I found this unusual as normally in a lesson we would be in the light and focusing. However, when the projection began this gave me inspiration to move. The first projection was an orange pumpkin seed projected onto the wall. This made me think of life, birth and something beginning. I decided to improvise small, curling movements that grew bigger. Other images such as a farm house and red wooden panels sparked of strong continuous movements. My favourite projection was a black, textured wooden close up shot. As I went nearer to the projector I noticed the light was reflected onto my own body and also the other dancers around me. This made me think of sparkle dust and an almost ‘magic’ atmosphere within the space. I tried to catch and tap this projection on my skin. This projection was then projected onto the floor. It made it seem like a river that I could jump over and splash.

It was useful to see how shadows could be worked into a performance, and while moving to the projections we began to look at how shadows could be altered and then interact with each other. By moving closer and then further away from the projector, different effects could be made.

We also got the chance to work the projector and then sit out and watch the other dancers to see what the piece would look like from an outside perspective.

I really enjoyed this workshop and found it very useful. I particularly enjoyed actually being within the projection and moving to the images being projected.