ARTISTS WE LOVE: Anthony McCall

In a world where it is so easy to do so much without ever coming in contact with another person, it’s often difficult to remember the role that we play in shaping those around us. And inversely the role that others play in shaping who we are as individuals. We forget that every little movement is felt by someone else. Our actions are far from inconsequential. Anthony McCall explained it saying, “An individual body cannot be really understood or described if you treat it as bounded by its skin. Most of our experience is based on pairing with other bodies. Our sense of self is only possible because we are in an almost constant state of mutual exchange with others.” Not only do our actions impact one another, but we cannot even identify ourselves, as individuals, without considering the people beyond us.

In McCall’s piece Between You and I (2006) two projected shapes slowly move and transform each other. Through the slow and steady ebb and flow of their movements the two shapes influence and mold the other. One shape cannot be defined without the other because the other is always present. The second shape is always there — a constant and powerful influence on the first. Similarly, we are in a constant series of interactions with those around us. We cannot define ourselves without acknowledging the impact they have on us. Just as the shapes are, we are formed through the constant give and take in our lives. It is a constant and never ending formation that makes us who we are.

“An individual body cannot be really understood or described if you treat it as bounded by its skin. Most of our experience is based on pairing with other bodies. Our sense of self is only possible because we are in an almost constant state of mutual exchange with others.”