the floor’s the limit is an in situ response to the Olga Korper Gallery. In the summer of 2008, the 35th anniversary of the gallery, I asked three rollerskaters to map the gallery space. The three videos in this package document the skaters’ exploration of, and interaction with, the gallery floor and walls.

Each skater addressed the request to map the space differently. Kerry is animated and confident, Alyson is shy and evasive of the camera, while Caitlin is mischievous and dissects the space while “bouncing off the walls”. The paths the skaters weave parallel the artmaking process as they morph from lyrical and deliberate, to competitive, then back to contemplative.

As the skaters perform the camera tracks and negotiates their movement. Sometimes this results in a choreographed ‘catch me if you can’, play-for-play sequence, as the camera anticipates their movement and sweeps forward with them. At other times the camera pulls back to observe the skater from a fixed position. While the skater may acknowledge the camera’s gaze, she skates with complete autonomy.

The idea of looking at performance in relation to the interior space evolved in part from many comments on this particular space. In the floor’s the limit the space keeps pace with the art.