Expect The Wurst_by Matthias Sperling (video still)
Expect The Wurst (2013)
'Expect The Wurst' is a video work created by Matthias Sperling. He sits in quiet, expectant concentration facing the camera. At intervals, a sausage flies towards him and he appears to deftly catch it mid-air, before gently placing it down beside him. With these simple, if unusual, means, Sperling enquires into the role that expectation plays in choreographic composition. The work points to expectation as a concept around which two areas of significant interest to him converge: artistic principles of time-based composition and neuroscientific study of the brain. The former highlights the dynamic unfolding of expectation and predictability as key components, while the latter characterises the brain as a 'prediction machine', placing ideas of 'expectation generation' at the centre of attempts to explain how our conscious, embodied brain works and what it is for.
Conceived, performed, filmed and edited by Matthias Sperling
Created in the context of a research period supported by Arts Council England and Dance4
Exhibitions/screenings: The Place (London, UK)