jump-2012-nora-mertes

try no. 3 (jump), 2012, screen shot, 97.4 min

The photo I am thinking of shows Mary Wigman jumping in front of Lake Maggiore. It is a frequently used motif when it comes to the Monte Verità life reform movement of the beginning of the last century. In the picture, the dancer jumps with her upper body bent backwards, arms raised, wearing light clothing, and barefoot in front of the lake and mountain scenery lying in fog in the evening light.

Over the period of six months I practice the jump of Mary Wigman again and again. Every jump is an attempt to approach this moment of apparent perfection represented in the photo.

At gallery Blunk in Trondheim I presented “Try No. 3 (Jump)” for which I jumped reiteratively. The video lasts until my physical exhaustion.