For a young performance artist, to have an award presented to you by Marina Abramović as you start your career must feel like kismet. Daria Blum has taken this accolade – the inaugural Claridge’s Royal Academy Schools Art Prize – and run with it. Taking over Claridge’s Art Space with Daria Blum: Drip Drip Point Warp Spin Buckle Rot, a multimedia installation touching on dance, architecture and intergenerational relationships, Blum’s audacious debut shows a wealth of talent ready to be unleashed.
Composed of sculptural elements, three multi-channel screens, lighting, sound, and Blum’s live performance, Drip Drip Point Warp Spin Buckle Rot forms an enveloping installation which immerses visitors into Blum’s otherwise solitary work. Performing carefully choreographed pieces both on screen and live in the gallery, Blum reveals her characters through recurring motifs. A ‘tour guide’ with a headset, the agitated and insubordinate ‘bitch’ with her pointed finger. As her protagonist discovers choreographies she inhabits these characters unveiling a host of themes and motifs to Blum’s audience.
The port de bras is significant within Blum’s choreography. Unnatural arm positioning with gestural pointing of fingers which act to criticise the audience and draw attention to herself. A twisting smile on Blum’s face early on expertly evolves into an expression of pain and fear. The pointed finger is an recurrent and crucial component of Blum’s characterisation of ‘the bitch’: “she uses this gesture of the pointed finger quite a lot as a sort of tool to claim attention onto herself but also to blame others for her problems. And the pointed finger… its a gesture that has just an incredibly wide range of meanings.”
Blum’s performance reaches a high point with her final act. Turning her back to the audience she observes the central screen, connecting her live performance with the video installation. Blum relates to the spaces architecture by leaning against the central pillar, a clever use of a curatorially disruptive feature. As Blum appears on the screen, she exits the physical space. Walking through her audience without looking back, their attention then transfers to the video installation. The gesture is solitary, she examines and relates her performance to her own work, the audience is almost intruder here.
The characters also live inside the three channel video installation Blum has composed. A hierarchy of screens, the focal point shows us pristinely shot footage, whilst grainier iPhone and archival footage plays on a smaller screen. At points the screens sync up and there is harmony, at other points there is dialogue between the screens, breaking up Blum’s voice and distinguishing between the characters and stories she wishes to tell.
The majority of this footage was shot during Blum’s recently completed residency at CAPC in Bordeaux, where she researched the cities avant-garde festival ‘Sigma’ and the early history of French classical ballet. Both these influences are prominent within Blum’s films, with her characters travelling through the bare rooms and corridors of a 1970s office building. The featuring of portraits of Blum’s grandmother (ballerina Daria Nzyankiwska) and archival footage of dance rehearsals shows Blum’s desire to explore how dance travels across bodies, boarders and generations.
A small revelation for those uninitiated with Claridge’s Art Space is how contemporary it is. Visitors would be forgiven for visions of mahogany panelling and Farrow & Ball shades, but these preconceptions would be wrong. A subterranean white cube space designed by renowned architect John Pawson seems to indicate a serious approach to art programming by the legendary hotel. This partnership with the RA school for which Blum is the first beneficiary backs this up and indicates and intention to not just stick to easy, highly commercial exhibitions.
Daria Blum: Drip Drip Point Warp Spin Buckle Rot speaks of exchange between bodies, voices, architecture and knowledge. Movement is dominant in this exchange, it signifies and shows it through Blum’s compelling choreography. With her first UK solo exhibition shown herself as a daring talent set to explore complex themes through an understanding of several mediums. A powerful effort.
Daria Blum: Drip Drip Point Warp Spin Buckle Rot, Claridges Art Space, Brook Mews, London, 24th September – 25th October 2024.
Featured Image: Film Still, Drip Drip Point Warp Spin Buckle Rot, Daria Blum, 2024.
Ruth O’Sullivan is a writer and curator. Her work explores the impact of digital technologies on contemporary art practices and challenging gender disparity within the visual arts.
