Z.e.r.o
by Mandafounis, Mazliah & Zarhy
If you try to put aside the wish to understand what you see,
what is left to watch? What could the feeling be then?
The starting point for Z.E.R.O. is the body as tabula rasa:
a body lacking memory, which performs each movement
as if for the first time; a tool with neither purpose nor function.
Z.E.R.O. presents itself as a sequence of confusing and fragmented scenes against an ambiguous background of recognizable sounds, some pre-recorded, some live. What you hear is not always what you see. Nor do the bodies react as expected. They are thrown back into an isolated present, delivered up to constant interaction. The anticipated fluidity of movement is questioned. Gestures are deconstructed, disrupted, dislocated. But if “you are what you do”, then what identity is left for a body which has erased its past? Z.E.R.O. explores the relationship between memory and the body, its bearings and reflexes, with remarkable physical intelligence.
(text by Jasper Nijsmans KFDA’10).