On December 5th, 2024, El Espacio 23 hosted a live performance by Colombian artist Carlos Motta. This performance, titled Gravedad, was a two-part project composed of a fragmented graphite drawing (displayed in EE23’s 2024-2025 exhibition Mirror of the Mind) and a live performance.
Carlos Motta, 1978 Gravidade [Gravity], 2024 Graphite and color pencil on watercolor paper, 5
Gravedad (Gravity) is a two-part project composed of a fragmented graphite drawing and a live performance, newly commissioned by El Espacio 23. The drawing—on view in the exhibition Mirror of the Mind— depicts a scorched landscape where hundreds of humans urgently care for one another. The figures attentively hold, carry, and drag each other, visibly dealing with the weight of the bodies but determined to help each other persist amidst a dry desert where only a few patches of green grass suggest the hope of survival.
Conceived as a performance score, the drawing was used by Motta and eight local performers to produce a live performance that builds upon the themes of care, endurance, weight, gravity, and survival.
The work presents a sequence of performative actions where the performers find cautious and tender ways to hold, carry, and endure the weight of their bodies for as long as they are able, creating scenes of sustained endurance and care.
Set to an electronic musical soundtrack designed by Dani F. Amaro, Gravedad asks the question: What does it take to support a life?
Performed by: Enrique Villacreses | Haiwen | Harmony Honig | Jeffrey Caballero | Maria Burt | misael soto | Nat Ebanks Sassine | Sabrín Feels Produced by: GeoVanna Gonzalez