Both intent on their own orbits and
intuitively observing the closeness of
their counterpart, this performance
is just as much about our broader
universe as it is about the ones
that we create for ourselves.

Andromeda and the Milky Way is a durational performance that unfolds through drawing, movement and time. Two performers, positioned opposite each other, remain anchored to their own points, drawing repeatedly across a field of paper in charcoal. From these fixed positions, each traces arcs that extend outward from the body, gradually forming expanding orbital fields that approach and eventually meet on the surface. The work develops through duration, proximity, relation and repetition, producing a dense accumulation of marks that records the reach and limits of each body in space, while the performers themselves remain at a distance.

The work takes its title from the projected merger of the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies, an event predicted to occur in approximately four billion years. While the two galaxies will eventually coalesce, the likelihood of individual stars or planets colliding is extremely small. This paradox—convergence without impact—structures the work. Through contained, repetitive action, the performers trace cycles of approach and divergence, proximity and withdrawal, translating astronomical movement into a human, relational register.

Across its iterations, the work exists as performance, drawing and moving image. The resulting forms hold traces of duration, friction and relation, positioning drawing as both action and aftermath.

In this 2022 iteration, Andromeda and the Milky Way was developed from its initial realisation in 2019 through a new performance presented to a small live audience while being recorded for video. The performers worked on a low platform, drawing in charcoal on paper fixed to its surface. Contact microphones embedded within the platform captured the sound of the drawing as it unfolded, while the action was filmed from a bird’s-eye perspective.

Following the performance, the drawing remained installed on the plinth for the duration of the exhibition, extending the work beyond its live moment. At the end of the exhibition, the plinth was tipped in a final performative gesture, releasing the excess charcoal onto the floor and leaving the drawing in its resolved state. The resulting forms—a single-channel video, the drawing, and a jar of charcoal—hold the work as both event and residue.