Ferrofluid_1 .jpg

Ferrofluid

Ferrofluid

Ferrofluid

Ferrofluid, since 2017 is a performative experiment with black paint. For the duration of about an hour, a special emulsion as well as magnetic dust were applied on particular regions of the body. As a result of the movement of the hands and a magnet, various n-dimensional shapes developed on the skin that kept changing dynamically in the process. On the one hand, the photographs document these ephemeral forms of appearance, on the other they present the human body and the paint material engaged in a kind of nonverbal communication in which both react to each other. Simultaneously, a singular physical experience is visualised and aestheticized.  

Seen together, connected the physical phenomena of the magnetism as authoritative and fundamental moment both working, the Ferrofluid and the Northern Lights Performance. Magnetic fields stand for absolute order and symmetrical structure. In the Ferrofluid project, an extremely small magnetic field is used for the performance, while in the Northern Lights Performance, the largest possible magnetic field is used, the magnetic field of our planet. The performances attempt to artistically break the absolute order and symmetry of the magnetic field - from microscopic to planet-wide. In the Ferrofluid performance, the interplay of the Ferrofluid and the magnetic field creates symmetrical structures, which the artist can disintegrate through randomized movements. In the Northern Lights Performance, charged particles of the solar wind hit the Earth's magnetic field. The apparently natural dance of light created by this becomes the antagonist of the artist, who works on a connection and dissolution in a performative act of running in frost and ice - with the steam that her strained body radiates. Common goal of both experiments: new formation. New formation of a situation in which language, material and thinking boundaries are shifted. In both cases, the performativity of the material comes to light at the moment of movement and creates a new reality.

A big thanks to Ing. Katarína Paulovičová, PhD. from the Institute of Experimental Physics, Slovak Academy of Sciences in Košice.

Ferrofluid, Videoperformance, 2018

Ferrofluid, photodocumentation, Andrej Žitňan, 100 x 70 cm, 2017

Ferrofluid, photodocumentation, Andrej Žitňan, 100 x 70 cm, 2017

Ferrofluid, photodocumentation, Andrej Žitňan, 100 x 70 cm, 2017

Ferrofluid, photodocumentation, Andrej Žitňan, 100 x 70 cm, 2017