Leviathan (De Oude Kerk)
Leviathan (De Oude Kerk)

A performance composed of seemingly simple gestures: a man climbs a rope and repeats movements of ascent and descent ad infinitum. Two factors complicate this simplicity: the setting and the physical manifestation. In common with all gothic churches the Oude Kerk utilizes the concept of verticality to inculcate a profound sense of the metaphysical, reminding the believer that God will finally descend. The event of a body forcing itself upward to a dizzying height, its slow return and repetition, forces to the surface many complex images of the mortal body and the notion of divine space. Leviathan is a work of absolute and intense physicality.

Sound: Paul Glazier
Photos: Thomas Lenden

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