LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 13: Visionary musician, dancer and artist FKA Twigs unveils a major new work of art, ‘The Eleven’ at Sotheby’s on September 13, 2024 in London, England. Open to the public from September 14 until September 26, ‘The Eleven’ is a newly-created durational artwork, conceived by Twigs and performed by a rotating group of eleven ‘movers’ daily for two weeks. The piece is complemented by an exhibition of Twig’s sketchbooks, drawings, diaries and polaroids, alongside photographs by Jordan Hemmingway. The exhibition, which is free and open to all, marks a first of its kind for the 280-year-old auction house. (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Sotheby’s)
Opening on the release of FKA twigs’ latest single EUSEXUA, The Eleven is the first exhibition of its kind in Sotheby’s 280-year history. Over the course of five years, the multi-hyphenate singer developed an eleven-step somatic healing practice with each grounding movement lasting for 11 minutes. In its entirety the durational artwork, performed by 11 “movers,” lasts for just over two hours. The exhibition is on for two weeks from 14 – 26 September in London and is both free and un-ticketed. The abstract piece can be described as an uninhibited release, or a therapy session in physical form, which the artist says is intentional. “I’ve been on a huge healing journey and I’ve had to learn how to live in my body again,” says twigs. “I wanted to create something [for] my body that truly felt free…something that wasn’t exercise or dance or had any formal training in the traditional sense but really subverted and embraced what we can do with our bodies.”
Talking to press in a Sotheby’s gallery hall, twigs lists the artists that inspire her to keep innovating from Madonna to Tracey Emin and Marina Abramovic. She is surrounded by black and white shots of bodies mid-movement captured by her creative partner Jordan Hemingway. The exhibition also features polaroids, sketchbooks and drawings by twigs herself. As she speaks, a soothing bass pulses in the background. In the other room a diverse ensemble of performers dressed in musky blue and black sweats enter a white floorspace and begin to bounce their knees, girate their hips and beat against their muscles to the sound of a DJ perched on the ground. A repetitive black and white clip of twigs projected onto the wall moves along with them. Occasionally, the movers make guttural sounds and eventually hum in rhythmic harmony. As the beat rumbles, the movers act out the ritual of washing their bodies and faces with their hands.
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 13: Visionary musician, dancer and artist FKA Twigs and Jordan Hemmingway attend the unveiling of a major new work of art, ‘The Eleven’ at Sotheby’s on September 13, 2024 in London, England. Open to the public from September 14 until September 26, ‘The Eleven’ is a newly-created durational artwork, conceived by Twigs and performed by a rotating group of eleven ‘movers’ daily for two weeks. The piece is complemented by an exhibition of Twig’s sketchbooks, drawings, diaries and polaroids, alongside photographs by Jordan Hemmingway. The exhibition, which is free and open to all, marks a first of its kind for the 280-year-old auction house. (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Sotheby’s)
The Eleven is escapism at its simplest and most unapologetic form, seeking to disconnect from screens and reconnect with “childlike wonder,” says twigs. Seeking nothingness in an era of constant stimulation is not only the foundation of the performance art, but also her upcoming album EUSEXUA. It’s a term she coined to capture the peace in being present. “The moment just before a great idea, I describe as EUSEXUA. Not the idea itself, not the download but that moment of complete clarity,” she emphatically explains. “I describe it as the moment before an orgasm, just a moment of nothingness,” she adds. “It’s just the pinnacle of human experience, and in this busy world, that’s what I feel I miss.”
The allure of nothingness is even expressed in the clothing worn by the movers and twigs’ own modular wardrobe, all in the same shade of muted steely blue. “The colour that you wear can assign you to a neighbourhood or a political movement. It says so much,” she told Schön! “It’s not just about the blue, it’s about the tone of the blue. Almost like a worn Japanese blue that I find says nothing…it just really calms me.”
As a classically trained dancer, it’s unsurprising that she explores this concept through movement. The trance-like pulse of the performance is inspired by her time spent at techno clubs in Prague while filming movie The Crow. The artwork itself exudes EUSEXUA, “the feeling of dancing all night and losing hours to the beat,” she says. And that’s precisely what the artwork feels like as a spectator, a rhythmic high in the twilight hours of a rave, entirely conveyed through the power of movement.
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 13: Visionary musician, dancer and artist FKA Twigs unveils a major new work of art, ‘The Eleven’ at Sotheby’s on September 13, 2024 in London, England. Open to the public from September 14 until September 26, ‘The Eleven’ is a newly-created durational artwork, conceived by Twigs and performed by a rotating group of eleven ‘movers’ daily for two weeks. The piece is complemented by an exhibition of Twig’s sketchbooks, drawings, diaries and polaroids, alongside photographs by Jordan Hemmingway. The exhibition, which is free and open to all, marks a first of its kind for the 280-year-old auction house. (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Sotheby’s)
“The Eleven” by FKA twigs is a non-ticketed exhibition showing for free at Sotheby’s in London from 14 – 26 September.
photography. Jordan Hemingway + Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Sotheby’s
words. Shama Nasinde
