Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi: Equations for a Body at Rest

About

It tracks the history and symbolic presentation of the Commonwealth Games (and, by association, the Commonwealth body itself) from its genesis in empire to the current day.

Equations for a Body at Rest has three components: The Same Track (video), The Name Game (series of posters), and the Equations for a Body at Rest reference website. Each element works in concert with the others. 

The Same Track is a video work playing on screens around the city. It uses archival footage of Commonwealth Games athletes, spectators, and administrators cut together with images of economic and promotional activity in various British colonies and Commonwealth states. Through symbolic juxtapositions of scenes from different eras, the work highlights both transformation and stasis through time. The Same Track draws attention to the idea that the Games, including in its current iteration, is implicated in an ongoing political project centuries in the making.