Review: Wayne McGregor’s Infinite Bodies and On the Other Earth in London
Not many artists get solo exhibitions, let alone two, so kudos to Wayne McGregor once again.
Somerset House is showing two McGregor exhibitions currently: Infinite Bodies in-house and On the Other Earth at Stone Nest, both running until 22 February.
The shows celebrate three decades of McGregor’s work, and Infinite Bodies confirms McGregor has enough of a catalogue to fill a vast space in a culturally important building. My press contact only gave me an hour to explore the first exhibition, which wasn’t enough, but I managed to consume what I could and came across two live performances during the 60-minute experience.
What struck me then, and later at Stone Nest, was the collaborative aspect of McGregor’s work. Some people shy away from transparency in relation to working relationships, but this isn’t an option for McGregor as (basically) all he does has collaboration at the forefront, and without external, creative minds his work would be the lesser.
It’s interesting to see movement in a digital format, but human participation is still the key for me. The Virtual Body for example is a screen work that sees two digital dancers moving through McGregor’s choreography. It’s mesmerising with form dispersing into molecular activity and cosmic blues transforming into sepia environments, yet there’s still something missing. Human intention, corporeal aesthetic and so on. Will the digital age ever be enough on its own?
Elsewhere the public can interact with a light installation (Future Self), and if you’re lucky two dancers from Company Wayne McGregor will come and show you how it’s done. Watching this short, 10-minute performance I realised how I understand McGregor’s work – his concern is what the movement can do rather than what it is. This approach works very well when engaging with a light installation or feeding off some high-tech AI software… but does it hold the space of a stage? Will the material engage without the gimmicks? I’m still on the fence.
Print Phase I, II and III are special pieces. Here we find three, 3D prints of a lone dancer completely in black. They take you aback as the sculptures are so isolated and melancholy in a way, and the movement is absolutely captured in the three poses presented.
Audience is another clever piece that sees 64 mechanical mirrors react to the movement of the observer. Therefore, the roles are immediately switched, and this seemed a brilliant insight into the lived experience of the dancer – always observed and aware of it.
I’d like to have spent more time with A body for AI, as its size and content are both of interest, specifically the chance to analyse the dancers’ bodies up close – instruments of artistic power that take a lifetime to hone… but the Stone Nest called!
Just off Shaftesbury Avenue we entered the 360° 3D screen for the 57-minute, virtual performance, and very quickly you realise you’re in a completely different world. The dancers featured are from Company Wayne McGregor and Hong Kong Ballet, and the whole experience is a total trip.
None of it feels like a waste of time, but four key sections spoke to me the most. At one point a portal of sorts opens and we arrive in Hong Kong on the heliport roof of The Peninsula hotel. With the combination of long-haul travel, new and intriguing views and an arresting pas de deux performed by two members of the Hong Kong Ballet I was pretty hooked. The female dancer was en pointe which also helps McGregor’s language in relation to aesthetic and fluidity, and both dancers had buckets of presence.
Later a male pas de deux allowed for more insight than one normally gets at a McGregor live performance. As the movement was in slow motion and the dancers so close, one could really tap into the emotional intention within the movement – this I really appreciated.
Another ingenious section sees the dancers moving upside down from the ceiling. It’s so interesting to watch from this perspective, further enhanced by the soundtrack of only the dancers’ movement noises. I thought how successful this must’ve been when first shown at the Biennale di Venezia this July, and rightly so, but did the audience also contemplate that it’s the gimmick doing most if not all of the work as opposed to the material itself? Who knows…
The work finishes with a solo dancer moving in a hall of mirrors of sorts. Whatever she does is repeated, simultaneously by replicas to infinity and beyond it seems. The lone dancer is all around us in the 360° 3D screen, so there’s no escaping the soft orange rays of repeated movement, and why would you want to?
It was an afternoon well spent, and it’s given me more respect for McGregor and his ongoing plight for development and possibility. Anyone who has a room in an exhibition about them, dedicated to their methodology and archive must be doing something right, no? That said, the biggest test for me is still an empty stage ready to be filled with content created by and realised by humans. Call me old-fashioned if you want. And I’ll own it.
Wayne McGregor: Infinite Bodies running at Somerset House until 22 February 2026 : Tickets and Information
Matthew Paluch was awarded a place at The Royal Ballet School in 1990 where he graduated in 1997. His first four years as a professional dancer were spent working with London City Ballet, Scottish Ballet, K-Ballet and English National Ballet, becoming a full-time member of ENB until leaving in 2006.
Matthew graduated from the Royal Academy of Dance, Professional Dancers’ Teaching Diploma in 2007, and was formerly on faculty at The Royal Ballet School. He completed his Masters in Ballet Studies at Roehampton University in 2011, has been a freelance writer since 2010 and currently works in the Law Sector.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
