Biba Cole (UK) is an interdisciplinary artist currently based in The Hague (NL). Positioning failures as generative actions, her practice revolves around 'slippages' from known languages. Swimming in pools of excess material - questions of productive action, consumption, language, disgust, and desire emerge.
Co-founder of experimental life drawing collective Nice Flaps.
GRADUATION PROJECT
'Pulp of the Sea' examines the female body, writing, and water as vessels that are continuously overflowing and falling over. Stemming from concepts of 'bodyworlding' and 'deep listening', the body continually evolves as it moves with its environment to create new space. The acts of speaking and surfing are explored as practices of falling and risk-taking. Giving value to slippages and failures, the moving body has no edges: it leaks, expands, and retracts. This piece reclaims and overturns stereotypes of femininity and re-evaluates the relationship between the female body and water. Through playful yet meticulous hand-cut animation, excess material is highlighted as the flickering edges of the body merge with visceral painted environments. This work encourages the practice of falling over: it spills water now, in order to slip up later.
Soundtrack by Biba Cole & one-four.
THESIS
Pulp of the Sea
In this thesis I am positioning my own body, writing, and water as vessels that are continuously overflowing and falling over. I am questioning why slippages are overlooked or considered mistakes. By positioning the artist’s studio as a gymnasium where process-based performances take place, I aim to give value and articulation to slippages which have previously been ignored. I slip between multiple practices of falling over: surfing, writing, the in-betweens of speech, and producing sound. The acts of surfing and speaking are positioned as practices of risk-taking; as processes of making ripples and carving out new spaces. Drawing on surfing terminology, I define my own evolving glossary, including terminology such as: pockets, slippages, carving, and trespassing. With an overarching influence of 'hydrofeminism', this writing takes place within and around bodies of water and pays homage to all bodies of water that have written-with me. This writing is in conversation with my practice, often functioning as a script for performances and films - they feed each other.