FOLDINGS: A THROW OF DICE

Dunoon-MOCA presents Foldings: A Throw of Dice

Six costumes inscribed with the poem, Un coup de dés jamais n'abolira le hasard (A throw of the dice will never abolish chance;1897) by the French symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé.
This poem was very revolutionary at the time it was written as the text changes considerably in size on the page and crosses from one page to another forming twelve folios that flow from one to another. This poem has been very influential on artists, poets, and musicians from the Surrealists onward throughout the twentieth century to the present



“Foldings” (1998) was a performative exploration of Mallarmé’s poem, Un Coup de Dés interpreted and transformed into a performance on stage by six dancers each wearing a double page costume (front & back). The costumes depict the text in its original French while the six performers movements simultaneously corresponded to an audio recording of the English translation read by different voices that reflect the changes in typefaces employed in the poem. Their performers' movements represented the opening and closing of the double folio pages, twelve openings and eight different type sizes of the poem. On more than one occasion two costumes make up the text of a double folio page. Un Coup de Dés addresses the timeless mysteries of time, space, and destiny and fulfills the poet’s unrealized desire to produce a theatrical work.

In the gallery of Dunoon-MOCA the six costumes that Kathy Bruce & Alastair Noble designed for the performance Foldings continue the ongoing celebrations of the 125th years since the poem was published.
Opening reception free to the public 2-5pm Sunday 26 February 2023
Hours Friday & Saturday 12-5pm and by appointment