Composition for Face and Hands (ASMR), 2023

6 - 10 December 2023 I Meridians, Art Basel Miami Beach 

Oliver Beer explores the hidden acoustic properties of bodies through this new work entitled Composition for Face and Hands (ASMR), which is a development of his work Composition for Mouths (Songs My Mother Taught Me), 2018. This installation consists of two performative films presented as a diptych and featuring two pairs of percussionists (as male and female counterparts) each using the other’s face as a percussion instrument to explore the different tonalities of the face through a gradual build-up of gestures, from gentle touches to more powerful contact, as a way to create rhythms and musicality through the body. The piece is at once tender and unsettling, the intensity also viscerally present in the moments of stillness. 

Curated by Magalí Arriola, Meridians is a sector of Art Basel Miami dedicated to Monumental artworks, creating a vibrant platform; for large-scale sculptures, installations and moving image, as well as for performance. Meridians present around 30 projects that push the limits of what can traditionally be shown at an art fair. Magalí is a Mexico City-based curator and the Director of Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo.

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Percussionists: Emma King, Valentina Magaletti, Andre Camacho, Oliver Beer

Director: Carlos Jimenez

Director of photography: Alessandro Di Rosa

Editor: Thomas Goldser @Avenues studio

Sound editor: Simon Todkill

Filmed at the Pool recording studio, London, SE1