Ways of doing things by Anna Macdonald

Ways We Did Things

2021-10-30 09:33:33 UTC

I'm a dancer today, but not with my legs. I danced with my hands, my fingers, my thumbs. It was a duet, and my partners hands sometimes matched with my movements, and sometimes did their own thing. Perhaps there were patterns. I feel my own skin more acutely now. I feel the scars on my hands, the ache in my wrist, and also the dryness of my lips. I have no way of knowing what my partner feels, but for a moment I felt a togetherness.

<3 xxx

amacdonald85 — 2021-10-30 10:18:03 UTC

A way of doing things. . .

2021-10-30 10:38:23 UTC

. . . brought me into the moment of doing and really allowed me to focus on a duet with a special person.
Very grateful to have had access to this work and to be a part of its future life.
It was lovely to dance again today - must remember to do that more often.
A salient reminder of what is important.
Thank you

Dancing today

2021-10-30 11:29:36 UTC

I had a gorgeous experience today at the piece. So layered. I loved being brought back and forth to other peoples experience and mine. Being invited to dance in relation to others experience was special. Giving and receiving.... sharing also. So appreciate having had this 30 min with you and to dance together. Congratulations to all involved in this wonderful work.

A delightful way of doing things! Thank you for doing this work. Focusing at my hands & dance with the other hands. A handy waltz to remind that hands are not invisible; they talk, work, sense, dance, touch, feel, hurt, save and do many things. In past 2 years we've been washing and cleaning hands with alchool gel , watching carefully to not spread things throught hands. It was a real treat dance with my hands and spread joy in this interactive performance. Thank you again. Keep dancing and doing the work. Love

2021-10-30 15:14:55 UTC

2021-10-30 15:36:44 UTC

Wasn’t sure what to expect when The show started but a very personal and emotional journey for me.

The juxtapositions of disparate subjects but with a common thread was unexpected!

Loved it! So sorry about my grim nail varnish. The matching thing at the end blew my mind

amacdonald85 — 2021-10-31 11:28:52 UTC

#waysofdoingthings mind blown by the idea that the things we have that are matching are those that have been given to us

The way things do things to you...

2021-10-31 12:37:50 UTC

It's a beautiful thing to be moved in ways where you can't recognise the pattern yet - belonging to a singular infinity, always seen by the things around you! Thank you for this experience, it is so deeply felt. To be connected to the multitude in this way was incredibly special - the most profound collective experience. I danced with you and everything else moving through existence. Endless love for this beautiful work, thank you.

Sharing our hands...

2021-10-31 13:15:17 UTC

...matching or following or responding, is such an unexpectedly moving experience. The somatic and emotional experience of giving and receiving, wondering whether I am receiving or giving movement, gesture, expression to or from you. A real sense of being given space to think and to feel these things. I love the repetition of the lines "this is both the truth..." as official scientific research and artist's statement. Both fact and belief/intention/purpose. I am intrigued to see how other dancers play these instructions. Thank you

Slowing down, and allowing threads of thoughts to ease through a busy mind, connecting and diverging across multiple sonic and visual landscapes. Soft voices, hard questions, decisions with consequence, care and gift, movement that makes you intensely aware of the wonder that is our body, our shape - patterns that are unique yet universal. Thank you for sharing your way of doing things Anna Macdonald.

2021-11-02 14:03:52 UTC

Ways of doing things....

2021-11-02 20:05:41 UTC

I didn't know what to expect and really appreciate being given your time (thank you) to reflect, connect, consider, 'dance' with you....focus on pattern, repetition, framing, mirroring. I can't wait to see the collection of filmed responses, it's going to be beautiful.

I had no idea what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised. It was even more meaningful because i am doctor and seeing the world of art and science merge was simply spectacular

2021-11-02 21:03:46 UTC

Magic

2021-11-03 15:09:34 UTC

I feel that I was part of something magical today. Beautiful, poignant, honest, tender. I really didn't know what to expect. I had to fight the social practice artist in me to allow myself to be the participant this time and I'm so glad that I did. I loved the idea of being matched. It made me think about the matches in my life. My life partner. We feel matched. And my children. In Steiner kindergarten, they tell the children a story of their birth, how the children are with the angels and they look down and match themselves with parents of their choosing. Then they slide down the rainbow to be with their 'matched' family. I remember waking up on the morning after my first daughter was born and looking at her sleeping face and feeling a sense of being matched. Of course, I thought. It's you. It was always meant to be you.
It felt a bit like that today. I was meant to do this. Although I didn't know what to expect, once I was immersed I felt, of course, this is how it is and this is what I knew I was going to do today. Beautiful. Thank you.

Such a satisfying and tender experience. To move in response to your hands whilst contemplating how our hands were communicating...and what they were sharing...was magical. I appreciated my match and enjoyed letting that resonate throughout. The images opened my gaze and allowed me to receive the screen and the language more peripherally and so with more curiosity. Thank you for creating this work.

2021-11-03 15:52:37 UTC

Surprising effect

dabulhawa1 — 2021-11-03 16:39:30 UTC

This was a very powerful piece of work. It made me think a lot about cell banks and the use of stem cells in research. The idea of donation. I didn't quite follow a story throughout the piece - it felt like I was piecing together elements. But they were all interesting and raised questions in their own ways. I wasn't sure about how this was all going to cohere. The hand dance at the end was really fascinating to me and emotive. I still don't really know what I experienced but there was something very affective happening in this work that will take me some time to process and understand. Donation, care, giving over something of yourself, forever, Carers hands, receivers hands, images that are interpreted by patients, a relationship with you to make a hand dance. I think about the signification of hands and how much they hold. I thought of Amy Voris' experiential anatomy. The way the hands link to the interior world. Holding me. Holding you.

antoniodelafeguedes — 2021-11-03 17:02:30 UTC

Seemingly simple yet still trying to figure out what I was part of… thank you!

It was mesmerizing and so interesting to be part of. thank you!

2021-11-03 20:32:39 UTC

2021-11-03 21:39:10 UTC

caught up in the artistic and imaginative and brought back to the rational with the repeated question of consent to participate, so interesting. being reminded that participation would include both receiving and giving. loved that this didn't have to be the same (movement) but that there were many different ways our dialogue could go...which it did. i became transported in the duet and could have gone on and on. Loved seeing the professor's hands at the beginning, also John's collection of things he needed to do every three hours. a beautifully crafted piece which needed my attention to be held and awareness to shift all the way through. Thank you xx

Good fun and interesting. I found myself getting really into the hand movements which was something I had not thought of before. Stimulating. I also put in a couple of personal signals in my own movements to see if others might recognize them.

2021-11-04 22:51:38 UTC

I really felt the ideas related to reciprocity strongly throughout the piece. There was also an intimacy, and this was very moving. I felt spoken to personally when my tree was selected and gifted to me. Then sharing these feelings though the hand movements with another placed these feelings within a very real context. I am still thinking about it now!

2021-11-15 11:51:06 UTC

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amacdonald85 — 2021-12-03 14:19:40 UTC

test

2022-01-16 09:45:46 UTC

🤘🏻

2022-01-17 14:57:02 UTC

Moving hands and pondering

2022-04-27 14:14:16 UTC

I really enjoyed my participation, although I cannot help but thinking about the meaning of all this and how I am *supposed* to move my hands etc. Thinking about sharing, donating, and matching by moving hands was such an effective way!

Moving Together A/part

2022-04-27 14:44:35 UTC

Was intro and outro spective to move with and in contrast too - those spaces in between - those hard to get to and see spaces, I was able to move from there and feel from there. The give and take and push and pull I could feel through my screen; we were together apart. Thank you.

2022-04-28 09:45:38 UTC

Such careful complexities held within this work and all brought into my own experience through live one to one performance. Many layers so beautifully and gently presented. Soft nudges activated my thinking and made me feel just the right amount of uncomfortable around consent. Honouring the process of giving and receiving! I am so pleased to have joined with of all those involved (including the credited trees!).

2022-05-05 17:57:38 UTC

thanks for inviting me to be part of this beautiful work, I normally shy away from audience participation, even the thought of it brings me out in a sweat, but something about just the hands, the curation of your work revealing the meaning, it really got me feeling comfortable. I was able to enjoy the process, to be in the moment, to feel playful in the dance between us, to also feel that I am part of something meaningful. It got me thinking about participation through digital physical realms, consent and how to engage a digital audience in a more intimate and personal way.
here is some of my rambling thoughts:
light/resist moving my hand to the curtains/ vibrations of the individual fingers/ felt the paper cut on my hand once more and wanted to touch it or show it to the camera/ ripples between fingers/tried to copy for a bit/tapping scraping on the table/then tried not to copy/waves/should have cut my nails/slow and soft/I give him a look the hands pause/rapid then flipping looking at each bit/tenderness/bring them together/warm hands cool table/watching my own hands/dry/forgetting to watch the others/lifting and lowering/trying to find the light again

I love this idea of matching, and of the seriousness of giving.

heni38 — 2022-05-06 11:14:30 UTC

The commitment of it, for all time, makes it both heavy but also incredibly light. the idea that every gesture can be received with a gesture, and thats creativity, in a relational sense. I live how this event was held in a serious way but also lightly and playfully, the notion of 'truth' and what is said by the institution or the artist as being somehow connected yet distinguishable. I also like the space, giving to contemplate within a sense of infinity, infinite cells, infinite numbers, multiplying, patterning, matching, significant, insignificant...