Oslo Kulturnatt

Leaving a Trace

Performance with Gabriel Schmitz and Maiko Nishino

13. September, 18.00 – 20.00

First performance starts at 18.30

Gabriel Schmitz (b. 1970, Germany) is a visual artist based in Barcelona. For Schmitz contemporary dance has always been an important source of inspiration. Capturing the subtle and profound language of a body in motion is the most challenging and rewarding task you can face as a figurative painter. This lasting fascination with dance leads to “Incontri”, an open and constantly muting project that has been growing ever since the artist started to explore the possibility of drawing dance in motion.

Together with the Japanese dancer Maiko Nishino, former Prima Ballerina of the National Ballet of Norway, Gabriel Schmitz will perform two improvised dances to Tchaikovsky and Mozart. The paper spread out on the floor defines the space where the happening takes place: the dancer and the artist share its surface to move and work on. As time advances, the white, untouched paper diminishes and the dancer has to intrude in the area already filled with drawings, while the artist repositions himself in the search of space to draw on. The performance lasts around 20 minutes with a pause in between, and there will be a chance to get a pre-view of Gabriel Schmitz new solo exhibition at Galleri Ramfjord, before and after the performance.

Photos by Kristine Schille

From performance between Gabriel Schmitz and Maiko Nishino in 2021