DiversosTraceology
The term “traceology” comes from the words trace (trahere) and science or discourse (-logia), and therefore designates the ‘discourse’ or ‘science of traces’. The term “traceology” designates a scientific method used in archaeology, more specifically prehistoric archaeology. It aims to determine the function of an ancient tool by studying the traces left upon it, to observe the polish and wear and tear, even down to a microscopic scale. As such, these traces offer clues; how the tool was used and its function, how it was handled, the movement it generated and the matter it was meant to alter.
This new project, Traceology, is part of my research on movement and the exploration of subtexts as possible motors for physical action, as well as my study of body dynamics and states. This time, however, the work is envisioned in a societal context of (post-) pandemic reality wherein our relationship to others has been “amputated” when it comes to the sense of “touch”, a touch that, despite everything, remains fundamental to physical work.
What interests me in the science of “traceology” is how it ultimately relies on studying a series, a sequence of ‘contacts’ and therefore of ‘touches’; the contact between hand and object, object and matter, and consequently, the hand whose action transforms matter. A science of traces or, as this project views it, a discourse of gestures—here the interest is in all the possible variations of nuance when executing the same gesture or a multiplicity of gestures, while also probing the degree of dramatic intensity in the resulting dance.
Working through explorations, we will approach the vestiges of gestures as signs of disappearance to be incorporated, but also as traces that we will collect, classify or cite while delving into the material imprints that we see remaining.
How do you touch a gesture or action?
How can you activate the trace of a gesture or movement?
How do we accompany the emergence of action?
How can we touch an inner movement?
How do you slide from one gesture to another, moved by the images carried, evoked, called forth in every one of us?
How can we create a score in which the memories of infinite past touches become passageways that we inhabit fully, in the present moment?
Olga de Soto, 2020
