Natalie Inside Out is a collaboration between digital artist Mark Morreau and handbalancer Natalie Reckert which combines live performance with digital technology and video projection.
The shared fascination of the collaborators is in revealing the unseen to the audience; making explicit the workings – visible and invisible, mental and physical - of the performer’s body. We combine the descriptive performance elements of Natalie’s recent works with Mark’s close-up slow-motion videography, together with biological sensors, infrared and x-ray vision and video projection to create this new work.
We explore the relationship between live and mediatised performance: between movement as observed by the audience at distance, and movement shown to the audience via the camera in extreme close up. We draw the spectator in closer to what is happening on the skin of the body, on the immediate outside of the performer.
We are interested in the inside of the performer: using sensors and exploring visualisation methods we show the audience the performer’s body temperature, brain activity, blood pressure, pulse rate, blood sugar levels, muscle tension, and other biological markers to make explicit the ‘work’ involved in doing a handstand.
Natalie Inside Out is not a demonstration, or a scientific experiment, but an exposition of the feelings of uncanniness generated as Natalie faces her inner self. Natalie Inside Out is reflective, humorous, and human.