Sympoiesis

“The show opening is an emotionally charged performance on how we have drained the life out of our oceans. It is a call for protection.”
As the show opens with a performance created in collaboration with light artist Nick Verstand, Fuller’s moves are thrown into the future as near-invisible Japanese airfabric becomes a light painting. As if she is leaving her solid body, the voluminous phantom silhouettes radiate organic patterns of light that are activated by the movements of the dancer in real time. “The dancer becomes morphogenic and more-than-human, seeming to shimmer in and out of perception, often being swallowed entirely into this bioluminescent creature,” says Van Herpen.

Sympoiesis draws this thread out in a pioneering collaboration with biodesigner Chris Bellamy - a, first-of-its-kind living look, inhabited by 125 million bioluminescent algae which emit light in response to movement. Grown in sea-water baths over several months within a specialised nutrient gel, the Pyrocystis Lunula algae were moulded into a protective membrane then attentively cared for in conditions to mimic their natural marine home, with humidity, temperature, and circadian rhythm all tuned to their precise needs. The chamber in which the living look is nurtured becomes, therefore, a microcosm of the ocean’s delicate balancing point. Caring for the garment, and for the 125 million Pyrocystis Lunula it contains, requires a symbiotic relationship and redefines the creation traditions entirely, as the garment is cultivated rather than constructed.