Damrak
(Maastricht / Brusselsestraat 12)
In addition to being an independent artist, Michal Butink (The Netherlands, 1975) is also a VJ and she makes videos for the Dutch National Ballet’s dance shows, such as Swan Lake and Bijlmer II. Butink refers to her work as ‘moving photography’. By means of delaying, looping or freezing her videos, she generates a feeling of endlessness and stillness. Minimal and hidden details are – quite literally – lit up. She is fascinated by people’s movements: the twist of a head, the swipe of a lock of hair – she directs them in her videos. All this, when nothing much seems to happen and everything runs its natural course. Damrak (1999) is an older but leading video in Butinks work because here, for the first time, she captures human movements in public. Choreography in the public eye. This ‘un-orchestrated’ work is a powerful antidote for the works in this exhibition, which are made with pre-planned choreography. BodyTalks also shows Butinks’ work inhale/ exhale on the other side of the street (nr. 7).