CORPONOMY

In the work ‘Corponomy Installation’ (2019) Jocson reflects on archival material from previous performances from her diverse practice, which are remixed and reincorporated into a new project. Comprising an intertextual installation of dance sequences, training videos, and research archives, Jocson inhabits a wide repertoire of genres attributed to Philippine migrant workers operating in the entertainment and service industries across the world. From pole dancing to macho dancing, to female hostesses and Disney princesses, the audience is led through an immersive experience of sound, text, and movements as they morph into one another. The term ‘Corponomy’ is one that Jocson uses to describe the body as it adapts to different economic situations, as well as the dynamic relationship between marginalised communities and mass culture. By conditioning her body to fit into these diverse roles, Jocson is able to re-route the original functions of these dances, contemplating the representational possibilities of migrant Filipino bodies, and bringing such contemplations to the public sphere.

VENUE

Monument Gallery, 1820 Settlers Monument

DURATION

23 June – 03 July

CREDITS

Images Courtesy of Artist, Rockbund Art Museum and HUGO BOSS ASIA ART Award for Emerging Asian Artists 2019

Concept, Direction & Performance: Eisa Jocson

Music: Marc Appart

Video Editing: Brandon Relucio

Video Filming: ARTFACTORY

Technical Director and Production Manager: Yap Seok Hui

ARTIST BIO

Eisa Jocson is a contemporary choreographer and dancer from the Philippines, trained as a visual artist, with a background in ballet.

She exposes body politics in the service and entertainment industry as seen through the unique socioeconomic lens of the Philippines. She studies how the body moves and what conditions make it move – be it social mobility or movement out of the Philippines through migrant work. In all her creations – from pole to macho dancing to princess and to zoo animals – capital is the driving force of movement pushing the indentured body into spatial geographies.

She has been commissioned by and toured extensively in major contemporary festivals. Macho Dancer (2013) won the Zurcher Kantonalbank Acknowledgement Prize at the Zurich Theater Spektakel in 2013. Princess has been selected as one of the outstanding contemporary productions for the 2018 edition of Tanzplattform. Manila Zoo, a work developed within Pandemic, is selected for the Impulse Theatre Festival 2022. She is a recipient of the 2018 Cultural Centre of the Philippines 13 Artists Award, the Hugo Boss Asia Art Award 2019 winner and recently received the SeMa-HANA Award at the Seoul MediaCity Biennale for the work TFSB2020: Empire of Care.