Embodied Knowledge captures those thought processes that emerge when the brain and the rest of the body come together in a meeting of minds: the cerebral mind’s metacognitive eye coupled with the corporal intuitive wordless thoughts. The brain is not a vat of knowledge that works in isolation, depending on a mutually beneficial relationship with the body.
Mark Baldwin and Nicky Clayton have been collaborating for the past ten years, exploring the exciting commonalities between science and art, about ideas expressed through the medium of movement.
For Mark it’s about the dancer and the choreographer; for Nicky, it’s about the crow and the scientist fascinated by their manners and movements. There are in fact many parallels in the practice of an artist and a scientist: they use different tools and methods of inquiry, but many of the questions remain the same.
How can we represent complex abstract ideas through the medium of movement without the need for words to represent and explain these things? What might mental time travel be like in the absence of words, and what kinds of evidence might we look for in such an endeavour? What happens when our worlds meet and we create something new together?
These are ideas that have inspired seven new choreographic works including “Comedy of Change” to celebrate Darwin’s bicentennial and the 150th anniversary of “On the Origin of Species” or “Seven for a secret never to be told” with its emphasis on the importance of play for cognitive development in young children and other animals, notably crows or “The Creation”, which was inspired by the origins of life in the universe.
These ideas are expressed pictorially in this series of watercolours painted by Mark, ideas that evolved mutually from Mark and Nicky’s discussions, questions that grew and emerged organically through a decade of exploring and playing with ideas together.
Movement in Mind investigates the creative process through a series of open-ended questions, in the hope of inspiring new questions and new ways of thinking and working.
The exhibition is taking place between 29 January – 9 March 2019 at Bermondsey Project Space. Free Entry + loads of exciting talks, events and workshops to be announced soon.
Check out the below video to see a sneak peek of behind the scenes at Mark Baldwin’s studio.
https://www.facebook.com/markbaldwinstudios/videos/1128634683962937/?t=2