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Sam Metz

Hull
Artist researcher creating drawing, sculpture and alternative notation based on movement and neurodivergence
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Sam is an interdisciplinary inspired by movement. Sam’s work researches, creates and reflects on the concept of what they refer to as ‘choreographic objects.

A ‘choreographic object’ is any work Sam creates that has, through the process of making or in the way it looks, a relationship to the body and movement. These works have included animation, analogue and digital film, paintings and crafted objects, such as 3D printed forms. These objects are created through movement and rhythm, whether in the form of still images lifted from film footage of Sam’s live art or in the dynamic, repetitive gestures of their mark making.

Referencing space, time, rhythm, repetition and direction, the sculptural objects then go on to inform choreography, as well as to document it.  The 3D forms will act as both a description of movement that has happened and as a trigger for future movement. The forms act as a proxy for the performing body that is absent – hopefully, having a closer relationship to that body than those generated by more traditional paper based script, in that the 3D forms stimulates a viewer’s visual empathy by occupying 3D space like the body of the original mover – expanding and extruding into space, much like the body in movement.

As a neurodivergent artist with sensory processing differences, the objects allow Sam to work in non-verbal ways, which is a key part of their practice. As an artist with an unpredictable body (due to both Tourette’s and the disability EDS, a connective tissue disorder) the creation of visual, sculptural objects for choreography and alternative forms of notation have allowed the artist alternative methods of communication with artists.

It is important to say here that Sam is a visual artist working across performance, platforming work that is both non-verbal and not reliant on having a normative description of a reliable body for performance. Collaborative work has included working with artists to create their own choreographic object as well as directing others with choreography. Sam operates in a social model of disability.

Sam studied Architecture and Critical Theory (philosophy) at University of Nottingham and had previously trained in physical theatre, they currently work out of the Makerspace in Hull.

 

Choreographic Objects

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Films

What Do Axis Artists Do All Day? Sam Metz

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