Alter Gallery 276
Main Building
In a time of unprecedented political turmoil, artistic duo Boudry and Lorenz created the immersive installation Moving Backwards to explore dance as a means of resistance. The work combines postmodern choreography and urban dance with guerrilla techniques and elements of queer underground culture.
Moving Backwards transforms the gallery into what the artists call an "abstract" nightclub, complete with a dance floor illuminated by flashing lights, a dancing curtain, and a projection of performers whose movements—both through choreography and complex video editing—confuse the distinction between backwards and forwards. The work responds to contemporary politics by reimagining stories of women in Kurdish guerrilla groups who wore their shoes backwards whilst walking in snowy mountains, a tactic that saved their lives as their footprints indicated travel in the opposite direction.
For Boudry and Lorenz, whose works are grounded in questioning mainstream narratives through queer discourses, the concept of “moving backwards” becomes an instrument of freedom and resilience, re-orienting and re-organizing our bodies and lives beyond the myth of progress and towards an unknown future.
Moving Backwards is a recent acquisition of the Modern and Contemporary Art Department. Pauline Boudry / Renate Lorenz, 2019. Installation with an animated curtain, LED lights, HD projection, color, and sound; 21 minutes. Purchased with the Contemporary Art Revolving Fund, 2022-20-1a--e.
