“We often talk about IQ, academic intelligence; then there’s EQ, emotional intelligence,” says Cliff Lauson, director of exhibitions at Somerset House. “But for Wayne, physical intelligence is endlessly fascinating, and something a lot of people aren’t keyed into.” Lauson is referring to choreographer Wayne McGregor, a man who has dedicated his 32-year career to physical intelligence, creating hyperkinetic, protean dance that pushes at the body’s boundaries. Wayne McGregor: Infinite Bodies, his new exhibition at Somerset House, explores the concept of PQ – physical intelligence – and lets visitors test out their own.
It’s rare to see a major exhibition dedicated to a choreographer. And the show might not be what you’d expect, says Lauson, its co-curator. It’s not “a retrospective of a choreographer featuring playbills, costumes and maquettes of the stage designs”. Instead, this is a series of installations for visitors to experience, or participate in, created with some of McGregor’s collaborators.
And there have been many. While making work for his own company, and as resident choreographer at The Royal Ballet, the Stockport-born 55-year-old has worked with everyone from Thom Yorke to the Jim Henson Company. He’s collaborated with neuroscientists and cardiologists, and top names in fashion (Gareth Pugh, Thierry Mugler), music (Mark Ronson, Jamie xx, the Chemical Brothers) and literature (Margaret Atwood, Jonathan Safran Foer). He’s designed movement for the Harry Potter films and got Abba’s holographic avatars dancing for the Abba Voyage show.
McGregor’s best-known pieces include Chroma (set to orchestrated White Stripes songs), Infra (which features giant projections by visual artist Julian Opie) and Woolf Works (based on the writings of Virginia Woolf). But one of McGregor’s abiding interests over the years has been technology and, more recently, AI. This provides the thrust of the Somerset House show, with interactive installations from “post-digital” art collective (and regular McGregor collaborator) Random International, exploring how technology affects the human condition through installations like the global sensation Rain Room. Visitors can also see life-sized dancers rendered on screen by Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light & Magic, and interact with McGregor’s AISOMA, an AI tool that generates new movement inspired by footage from McGregor’s archive. Dancers from McGregor’s company will appear at various times in the gallery as well.
Off-site, at the Stone Nest performance space on Shaftesbury Avenue, visitors can also see the UK premiere of On the Other Earth, an immersive, 360-degree 3D performance. “I’ve done a lot of AR and VR, but I’ve never experienced anything like it,” Lauson says. “The dancers are in your space – they move right past you.” Feeling your own presence in the gallery space, as well as witnessing the choreography around you, is the whole point, according to Lauson. “You leave the show being more aware of your body, more aware of your physical intelligence, and more aware of your collective experiences, too.”
Wayne McGregor: Infinite Bodies runs at Somerset House from October 30 to February 22.
