Cleave

2018, performance with stone and linen thread; single-channel digital video, colour, sound, 16:9. 29 sec, edition of 5 + 1 AP.
Performer: Emma Fielden. Videographer: Orkhan Huseynov. Location: Art Omi Artists Residency, New York, USA.

Cleave is a video performance made in the studio during Fielden’s residency at Art Omi. Two stones are suspended on a single length of linen thread, hovering above a white platform on the floor. She enters, pauses, and cuts the thread. The stones fall, striking the surface below in a sudden shift from suspension to impact, before she exits the frame. The work unfolds through a single, decisive action. The cut divides what was held together, transforming a state of tension into release. Suspended matter becomes grounded; stillness gives way to movement. The moment of rupture is brief, but its consequences are immediate and irreversible.