Assistant Professor Michael Namkung will be in Rio de Janeiro for the week of Monday, November 3rd. As a Visiting Artist, he will host Drawing Gym workshops at the Universidade Federal Do Estado Do Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO), and he will be doing a performance at the Niterói Contemporary Art Museum.
Although Namkung’s drawing practice is known for its emphasis on the human body and movement, his practice crosses disciplinary boundaries. His work employs live performance, drawing and video installations, training performance groups, and other socially engaged practices.
“The Drawing Gym projects encourage people to become aware of their bodies and to explore their physical limits during the activity of drawing,” said Namkung. “I’m interested in testing discomfort, giving permission to experience pain, and the meaning of failure. I have a continuing preoccupation with the expression and representation of the vulnerability that is exposed under these conditions. These experiences are also registered as biomorphic drawings composed of marks that refer directly to spatial and temporal measures of the body, as well as to attempts to repeatedly delineate and reveal its shifting boundaries.” (Source: CARTA News, September 2013)
“In Drawing Gym, I explore the intersection of drawing and athletics by combining strenuous exercise with traditional drawing tools, making drawings based on movements of my body and the bodies of others,” he said. “Combining drawing and regular physical exercise to explore the contours of human embodiment as a repetitive and performative act, this project suggests our physical boundaries are constantly in flux, and move to the degree we push against them.” (Sources: CARTA News, October 2014; Michael Namkung)
Namkung will host Drawing Gym workshops with Performance Studies students at UNIRIO. At Niterói Contemporary Art Museum, Namkung will host a socially engaged performance of the Drawing Gym.
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