Torkwase Dyson

Description

Torkwase Dyson defines herself as a painter, although her work far exceeds the boundaries of traditional painting. Through large-scale sculptures, drawings, architectural installations, and performative works, she explores the connections between the body, space, nature, and infrastructure. She is particularly interested in how "black bodies" perceive, shape, and traverse space by rejecting structures shaped by colonialism and ideologies. Dyson's work is based on her concept of "Black Compositional Thought," which examines how coherence makes improvisation possible. The "black compositional thought" describes a practice that shapes, organizes, and constructs universes of beauty and spatial freedom across all areas of life, without guarantees of permanence. Water is a central theme in Dyson's work. It is a physical element, a carrier of history, and a symbol of movement, resistance, and change. In her series of sculptures *Liquid A Place*, presented in 2023 at Desert X in Palm Desert, California, water becomes the repository of collective memories. Rivers, lakes, and oceans serve as archives of slavery, migration, movement, connection, and healing. Dyson questions how water can be understood not only as a physical means but also as a political one, and how liquid can contribute to developing new concepts of kindness, connection, and mobility. For Kunsthaus Bregenz, Dyson plans a multi-part project. On the lower floors, large and lightweight sculptures are created, designed as "multi-scale paintings" in which small details and large contexts appear simultaneously. On another floor, a twelve-channel sound installation condenses instrumental recordings and electronic sounds into a global spatial collage. On the top floor, Dyson presents immersive paintings inspired by the "Plantagenozän" — a term referring to the global changes induced by large exploiting agricultural plantations. These works draw attention to historical and current forms of exploitation, racism, and environmental destruction. Dyson's works are both monumental and fragile, modular and interconnected. Each piece creates its own space, where materials extend beyond their frame and surfaces tell the story of time and history. The experience remains perceptible on a physical level. Her work abandons fixed structures and feeds on improvisation, ephemerality, and change. She places particular importance on the intimacy of collective invention, where change and ephemerality become perceptible as the foundation of experience. Note: This text was translated by an automatic translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.

Highlights

• Large-scale sculptures and architectural installations
• Exploration of the links between body, space, and nature
• Central theme of water and its history

General Information

Torkwase Dyson's exhibition presents a series of works that question perceptions of black bodies in space. Through sculptures and installations, she addresses themes of resistance and change related to water, while engaging in a reflection on colonial heritage.

Location

Karl-Tizian-Platz, 6900 Bregenz, Austria

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