performance - installation - 2023

In the Vortex workshop space of Studio Olafur Eliasson, artist Helen Hines presented "Cor Cordis," a mesmerizing live performance that merged the ethereal art of rope bondage with the dynamic creation of abstract painting, in collaboration with Kati Bird and Rosalind Holgate-Smith. This pop-up performance transcended traditional boundaries of art, transforming the act of creation into an immersive, ritualistic experience.

The performance began with the meticulous and reverent process of rope bondage, where the artists' expertise turned the tying of knots and suspension into a delicate dance. The bound body, a living canvas, was gracefully suspended above a vast, spinning canvas laid out beneath. As the body swayed and rotated, paint was meticulously and chaotically applied, dripping and splattering from the body to the canvas below. Each movement, each drop of paint, contributed to two simulataneous works of art—the body as canvas and the canvas as mirror.

As the ritual progressed, the bound body was lowered onto the canvas, merging flesh with fabric, pigment with skin. This poignant moment of contact blurred the lines between artist and artwork, between subject and object. The body, both the creator and the creation, became an integral part of the abstract painting, embodying the essence of the artwork itself.

"Cor Cordis" disrupts conventional notions of abstract art by materializing and de-materializing the body within the artistic process. It celebrates the human form not merely as a subject to be depicted but as a vital component of the artistic creation. More profoundly, it celebrates the experience of being art—of embodying the creative force and becoming an intrinsic element of the artwork. The body is honored as a vessel of artistic expression and as a medium through which art comes to life.

Photography: Olafur Eliasson