2023 Calipers (precision measuring instruments) First presented at: artQ13, Rome Iterations: 25 January 2025 (second presentation)
Two performers, Gianluca Possidente and Erika Ciccone, use calipers on stage. Calipers are precision measuring instruments, normally employed in mechanical and industrial settings to check the dimensions of objects and components. Here they are applied directly to the body: arms, hands, skull, torso, legs. The two performers measure each other, open and close the calipers over the joints, register distances between one point and another on the surface of the body. The instrument slides along the skin, stops, takes the measurement, moves on. The action is repeated systematically on every reachable part. The body is treated as an object to be quantified, subjected to the same procedure reserved for mechanical parts. The calipers produce numbers, but the numbers are not written down. The measurement takes place and is lost. The precision of the instrument is applied to a body that breathes, moves, changes position.
Entropic regime — the calipers measure the body; numbers are produced but not recorded. The measurement takes place and disperses. Here the string is the numerical datum that decays in the very instant it is generated: precision applied to an unstable surface.
Photo: Cristina Crippa Produced by artQ13.