On Letting Things Be (An Exercise) (2020)
In two minutes, Sophie Clements immerses visitors in a hypnotic rhythm of various materials with different shapes and properties falling onto her studio’s hard concrete floor. Some objects – seemingly haphazardly chosen – bounce up, others jump away or snap the moment they hit the ground. Each with its own sound and response.
After filming, the artist put all the sequential shots on the computer and selected the key moments of each fall. When she pressed ‘play’ she became the first witness to a mesmerising rhythmic composition and lively dance of the dead things from her studio. All the unpredictable ‘outcomes’ of the falling working material resulted in a surprising, well paced image and sound composition. Clements left the editing as it was. The work had given itself a sound and rhythm. In New Grounds, the work intertwines with the other projections that also touch the ground (or not).