BREATHING
REVIEW BY Giovanna Maria Casetta Colchester Arts Centre 25th February 2006

Franko B Winter School Platform Colchester Arts Centre

A platform always provides the artist with a safe environment to work in. It is a great place to be able to present work, which is in progress and therefore can be unpolished and raw. It is a place where you can see a variety of work, from artists at different stages in their careers. A platform is an exciting place to view new works, it can reveal a process behind what is being performed and this gives it an indescribable energy, which I can only describe as both nervous and exciting. The Franko B winter school platform was no exception; I was taken on a roller coaster ride, in a few hours I had witnessed a body suspended hanging from hooks, done some very intimate breathing with another in a small space, partake in a game of chance, which could alter the players life, watch a restrained female trying to escape from her or the idea of self, witnessed a gentle ritual of embroidery, the naked foot being used as cloth and much more work to view besides. A common thread running through the work was the notions of identity and reclamation of the body as site, your own personal site, on which issues could be addressed and played out. The notion of how we view the body and its functions is a constant theme, which runs through the genre of live art. It was great to see these themes being addressed through fresh eyes, as they still have a strong influence within contemporary art practice today. I enjoyed the platform immensely and felt a strange privilege to be able to view work in an experimental and raw state.