Live Art

Anne Eyries

The strength of a spider’s thread
is its body weight
divided twice by the sine

of the angle of depression.
We don’t need to
calculate this as we stand in line

or weave round exhibits
admiring spinners in situ,
hearing their coded beat, amplified,

vibrating. In pitch-black rooms,
back-lit tapestries stun us;
crowds stare, unwary;

strands shiver, break
as clumsy visitors poke holes
in lace. Silk spires,

intricate, catch the light.
If you want to live and thrive,
let a spider run alive: imagine

stretching beyond our fears, imagine
pulsing sound to make
a symphony with only string.

The Science

In 2018, Tomás Saraceno’s Paris exhibition ON AIR included an installation titled Webs of At-tent(s)ion. In a large, dark room, spotlights illuminated dozens of huge and intricate spider webs that survived streams of visitors for nearly four months, making me question the tension and resistance of a single thread. The exhibition’s focus on choreographies and polyphonies across human and non-human worlds included magnifying ‘voices’ not readily heard by human ears. The term live art refers to performances or events undertaken or staged by an artist or group of artists as a work of art, usually innovative and exploratory in nature.

The Poet

Anne Eyries has poetry published in various journals, including Amsterdam Quarterly, Consilience, Dream Catcher, Dust, Feral, Humana Obscura, London Grip, and Paperboats. She lives in France.

Next poem: Marrowlight by R. Galichon