A pioneer in the realms of ’70s video and performance art, New Yorker Joan Jonas’s installation ‘Volcano Saga’ (1985/1994) appears surprisingly contemporary. A filmic retelling of a medieval myth about a woman’s oneiric prophecies, ‘Volcano Saga’ unravels in a dark, theatrical space. Pale blue Icelandic scenery provides a backdrop and a scree of elements from the original performances – props, drawings and slides – animates the gallery. Within this landscape, the props burn the brightest – their apparent fetishisation pulling this work into searing relevancy with current sculptural trends. This haunting environment becomes the stage set for the disentangling of themes of retranslation, reimagining and reinterpreting, all tropes that have long occupied Jonas’s practice.
Accompanying this beguiling installation is ‘Drawing Languages’, a collection of her works on paper, which illustrate the complex visual vocabulary the artist has evolved, often in step with her performances. Indeed, on large-scale works such as ‘Snake Drawing II’ it is possible to discern traces of the light pats and fumbles of the artist’s feet. Depicting a heaving, serpentine form, this gesture elides the dynamism found in her time-based installations and films, with the vitality present in her drawings. Although the collection is not exhaustive, it does go some way to suggesting the scope of Jonas’s insurmountable practice, and coupled with the beautifully textured installation, comprises a further unfolding of a hugely significant body of work.