STORIES OF FALLING OBJECTS

This research thread focuses on the traces of movement generated through the act of balancing an object while holding a drawing medium—such as a pen, charcoal, or ink—against a canvas placed on the floor. The exploration involves a range of objects with varying physical properties, from extremely light materials like feathers to dense and heavy ones such as steel or lead poles. Each variation elicits distinct patterns of movement and trace.

Balancing, whether an object or the human body, is inherently an act of motion. Stillness, in this context, is unattainable. Organic bodies are never truly still; as long as breath is drawn and hearts continue to beat, movement persists. Unlike inanimate objects, such as stones stacked atop one another, humans cannot achieve true stasis. This condition, both poetic and tragic, defines the nature of the act.

To work within this constraint is to relinquish control over form, shape, or predetermined meaning. The object is always in the process of falling, and the body is always in the process of responding, catching, adjusting, yielding. While some influence over the direction of movement is possible, the resulting trace is ultimately chaotic, erratic, and resolutely disobedient.

Documentary filmed in collaboration with Stephen McGinley at Aras Eanna on the island of Inis Oírr.