The following is from the book: “Adina Bar-On, Performance Artist” by Idit Porat Published by Kibbutz Hameuchad Ltd., Herzlyia Museum of Art and Adina Bar-On.
:Circumstance
Performance prepared in the framework of studiesin Bezalel, 1973
Place:
The old Bezalel building, lecture hall.
Duration:
About 20 minutes
Description:
1. Adina enters the hall from the door at the audience’s rear, and paces along a convoluted route, passing among people seated in the hall, to a place in front of the audience. As she walks she hums a quiet melody. Her gait is gentle and easy, and it is very quiet in the hall.
Adina sits down on a stool in front of the audience. Her body moves very slowly, in a kind of continuing posture-motion of leaning backwards – inclining the trunk,inclining the head, positioning the arms, with an introverted gaze. Her body creates a spiral line in space. The body is dynamic but the atmosphere created is a static and introverted. One can sense the tension in her muscles.
2. Very slowly Adina emerges from the spiral position and turns the front of her body towards the audience. She does not look at the audience directly, but relates to the surroundings by means of small body movements. Now she sits erect, leaning on the stool and directing a diagonal gaze upwards. The gaze becomes more acute as she focuses on a high and distant point which seems to be outside the bounds of the hall. Then Adina`s gaze begins to move in a circular movement,as though following a point which is changing its position in space.
Her facial expressions evoke a pastoral atmosphere. A slight dropping of the body creates ease for a moment, and after this the entire body is focused on an unseen point in space.
3. Adina rises from the seated position to a standing position. Her movement is very slow, as though she were pulled from above. With her gaze focused on a high and distant point, she ascends the stool. Her gaze seems to be wandering in the heights. Her face expresses pleasantness, pleasure and excitement. Adina starts moving her head in a spiral motion. Her shoulders and torso also follow in a similar motion.
While standing on the stool, she begins rubbing her lips with her clenched fists and emitting sounds of the chirping of birds.
4. Adina turns her head downwards in a sudden movement. Following the movement of the head, the shoulders and the torso also slump downwards. Her face wears an expression that is focused inward, attentive to the thoughts, passing through her head, for a long moment of musing without movement. Her breathing is halting and slow. Adina slowly descends from the stool. When her feet are on the floor, her gaze is still turned downward and she moves into a half-seated position on angle slightly to the side in relation to the audience.
5. In this crouching position- where one knee is a little higher than the other, the hands are raised to the sides almost at the height of the shoulders, the pelvis is very close to the ground and the back is at a diagonal angle which continues the angle of the head that still follows the same distant point in space – she concludes the performance: enrootment in the ground while preparing for upward motion.
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