Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Metal Dance by Oskar Schlemmer (1926)



Metal dance as described from the posted video in the sources is: Metal dance describes the geometric transformation by means of reflection to symbolize the transient platter of spatial order.

(SOURCE 1 VIDEO) 0:00-0:42

Personally, it is to me like our artist has been inspired by cubism and the development of a peculiar geometrical picture style with focus on the human figure. Specifically in this example the metallic being technology subordinates the human. In the dance, the human figure becomes a phantom with the elements of metal around him/her.

(SOURCE 3 VIDEO)
Seen from our perspective, the left side depicts the wavy metal plate that constructs illusions of continuity, the right side is the “stairs-like” metal plate inferring to the rigidity of machines, the flat metal plate below our dancer is the heuristic of the reverse of light-from above, the cylinder formed metal structures behind the dancer is portraying routine as of the circular elongated form, and last is the round “gloves” if I may that influences the boldness.



It is not easy for me to understand the dance without contextualizing the dance with the time of Bauhaus, but then again; it takes me back to the fact that nearly everything out of Bauhaus is still not “old-fashioned” in any sense. The creations still have a reminiscence of modern art in any sense despite the fact that it is right around 90 years since its creation.

The lighting on the thin plates creates a visual for the reflections that with the dance makes everything become one single unit.
For more information, see the sources. Disappointingly, the video of the dances can not be openly be posted due to copyright concerns, so I strongly encourage you to click the links for better understanding. 

Sources:

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