So may one envisage the many layers of tension that produce the continuous flow of action and reaction that narrates our existence. To disentangle these layers would be to comprehend one of the alchemies of life. Yet in the participatory exhibition That Which Awaits, these boundaries appear so indistinguishable that one may only marvel at their complexity.

Presented during an experimental and one‑evening reception, That Which Awaits features work by performer Karolina Prom and multidisciplinary artist Abie Franklin, who offer analogous stories of social behaviour, spaces wherein contemplation emerges through engagement. The participatory exhibition acts as a playground in which the tensions of human interaction are laid bare, with flesh and mind stretched at the whim of both performance and sculpture.
The constant negotiation of agency amongst human and non‑human life can be thought of as an intricate network or web. That Which Awaits embraces its inevitable position within this web, employing this image both metaphorically and materially. Beyond a curtain lies the participatory performance Pull developed by Prom in collaboration with Franklin. Designed to be engaged with by a singular visitor at a time, or in small groups of two or three, the work considers the possible sources of our deepest impulses. Do they come from within, our own underlying emotion, subconscious or even cellular processes? Are they driven by algorithmic, virtual or mechanistic forces? Or are they formed through social interaction itself? Beyond the curtain of our desire, Pull asks us to imagine the multifaceted assemblage that constitutes our inner drive in everyday life.

Hosted by Hošek Contemporary
In collaboration with Abie Franklin
Harness designed by Jakeyoung Shim
Curatorial text written by Oliver Dougherty



That Which Awaits

For Time Being was an exhibition that took place in Prague at Villa P65 in 2019, a centre for art, culture and education. It is also the title of this performance piece.

All artists were responding to the theme of intimacy - creating a sensory space to touch, to listen and to be heard. Being intimate involves the mixing with our lives with another's, a mingling of souls, a sharing of experience and stories. And the level of honesty and compassion which leads us to the point of trusting with our entire bodies. I've come to realise that we crave intimacy - the kind where we can breathe each other in. It sets my lungs on fire. The kind where you can look at me, hear me and touch me and make me feel completely bare. 

For The Time Being - Touch focuses on on the sensation of physical touch. There is a primal reassurance in being touched, in knowing that someone else, even a stranger, wants to be touching you. There is a bone-deep security that goes with the brush of a human hand, a silent, reflex level affirmation that someone is right there beside you. 

Live durational performance over 2 nights. 2019.

For The Time Being - Touch

For the Love of Isolation was originated and inspired by the current ongoing global pandemic.  As the body is primarily my medium, I created a number of these latex bodies to "perform" with to absolutely no one at various sites in West Yorkshire, where I have been spending my isolation period. 

For me, creating these bodies is symbolic of having company. The process itself of making a mould and duplicating the same figure many times is like having the DNA of your most loved one and cloning them in the hopes that they will always be beside you. However, the funny thing is is that I feel the most connected to people during this period of the pandemic then before. The only thing missing is the physicality, the intimacy. 

From an extension of a previous project, For the Time Being, where I used the same latex material to encourage the public audience to touch me, I wanted to reuse the material in a similar way, to mimic real skin - real touch. The figures are a symbol of nudity, of freedom... yet hold a sense of vulnerability and sensitivity. I wanted these photographs to express just that, a naked sense of truth that the world beholds and owes to us at this time while we reserve our rights to live freely and securely behind our own intimate privacy.

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Karolina Prom