Blue Noodles and Forced Collaboration

Forced Collaboration

Developed through Forced Collaboration* in early 2021, Emily produced a series of performance GIFs exploring a blue swimming noodle in response to a set of instructions shared from artist Bryony Hussey. The full extent of the collaboration can be found here.

Interested in body-object combinations, Emily continues to explore the performative potential of the noodle and how that object performs with her, expanding out into elements of play, sculpture and choreography.

*Forced Collaboration is an online platform led by artist Georgia Gendall that matches artist’s practices anonymously and creates a space for cross-disciplinary collaborations through the process of making/following instructions to create artworks.

A GIF of Emily moving a blue swimming noodle that is attached to one of her feet. She stands on one leg and moves the noodle low around her feet, she then extends and lifts her leg before pointing her toe into the mud and steching backwards with the noodle. She is in a muddy and snowy park area.
A GIF of Emily moving a blue swimming noodle that is attached to one of her feet. She stands on both feet, bending over to the left, creating a semi-circle with the noodle and her body. She is in a muddy and snowy park area.
A GIF of Emily moving a blue swimming noodle that is attached to one of her feet. She stands on one leg and moves the noodle low around her feet, she then extends and lifts her leg before pointing her toe into the mud and steching backwards with the noodle. She is in a muddy and snowy park area.
A GIF of Emily moving a blue swimming noodle that is attached to one of her feet. She stands on one leg and moves the noodle, lifting her foot and curving the noodle. She is in a muddy and snowy park area.
A GIF of Emily moving a blue swimming noodle that is attached to one of her feet. She stands on straight with both feet in the mud, holding the noodle upright against her body. Suddenly she lets go of the noodle and it flops forward, she mimics this movement and also slouches forward. She is in a muddy and snowy park area.
A GIF of Emily moving a blue swimming noodle that is attached to one of her feet. She stands on one leg and moves the noodle low around her feet, she then extends and lifts her leg before pointing her toe into the mud and steching backwards with the noodle. She is in a muddy and snowy park area.
In a grassy park area surrounded by thick green trees, three people stand wearing colourful clothing and have multiple swimming noodles in various colours attached to their bodies. They curve out away from the bodies, creating limb-like extensions.
Noodle Workshop Testbed, October 2021
Esme stands side on from the camera in a grassy park area. She is dressed in reds, pinks and oranges and has a red swimming noodle strapped to her side that curves over her head.
Lucie stands with her arms raised over her head wearing a green jumper and red jeands. A collection of swimming noodles in multiple colours are curved around in front of her. She stands in a grassy park area.

Noodle Workshops

What happens when we swim with noodles out of water?

Noodle Moves is a workshop exploring how we move – with noodles. Arranged as a collection of movement scores, outputs have included: performance, drawing, GIFs and just sheer joy.

Are you a gallery, organisation or artist-led initiative looking for noodles?
Email me!

In a sunny green park, four people hold swimming noodles in a line between them. They follow each other in a line.
Short GIF animation of a person with a pink noodle attached to their leg. They try to move in different ways with the noodle.
Short animated GIF. Two people in a field are wearing multiple noodles curled and bent in different ways. They move slightly and bend one of the noodles. A purple noodle enters the left of the frame blocking some of the view.
In a bright sunny park, two people in bright clothes are wearing multiple swimming noodles strapped to them in different ways. They curl up and away from the body.