R.S.V.P. Sculptures Activated by the Artist and Maren Hassinger in Performance Piece – Nylon Mesh and Maren Hassinger 1977

This is an image of Senga Nengudi's performance piece, R.S.V.P. Sculptures Activated by the Artist and Maren Hassinger, using nylon mesh. When I look at this, I imagine Nengudi starting with the material itself, maybe feeling its stretch and give, and then just letting it lead her. What does it mean to be both burdened and buoyed by these elastic structures? She makes me think about the give and take of relationships, how we're all interconnected, stretched and pulled in different directions. There’s an exchange happening between bodies, between sculpture and performance. Maren Hassinger seems to be listening to something, almost echoing the geometry of Nengudi’s sculptures, and then Nengudi herself arches, responding to the pull and resistance. It's like they're both tuning into the same frequency. It reminds me of other artists, like Eva Hesse, who were also exploring the possibilities of soft sculpture and the body, pushing the boundaries of what art could be. These artists keep the conversation flowing, bouncing ideas off each other across time.