Walker (2010) videodimension variable edition of 2 + 1 AP Alongside Pablo Bronstein’s architectural interventions, his performances often feature contemporary dancers, extending his engagement with space through gesture and choreography. His interest in the cyclical resurgence of Renaissance and Baroque ornamentation in art, dance, and architecture led him to create choreographed performances and videos that reimagine centuries-old courtly dances in a contemporary context. Bronstein’s fascination with the origins of ballet and the mannerist ideal of sprezzatura, coined by Baldassare Castiglione in Il Libro del cortegiano (the Book of Courtiers) (1528), is central to his video Walker (2010). Sprezzatura originally described the ideal blend of effortless grace and refined manners for noblemen. This concept later influenced aristocratic portraiture and, by extension, the development of ballet. In Walker, a dancer dressed in an ivory-ruched, strapless mini dress and a statement pearl necklace moves with courtly poise, filmed in one long take. Her fluid arm and torso movements echo the voguing gestures of 1980s Harlem Ballroom culture. Isolated against a stark, pitch-black background, she appears detached from historical context, suspended between time and space. As the viewer observes the “walker,” tension arises from this gaze– does her outdated attire and mannered elegance signify refinement or artificiality? Is she a glimpse of 16th-century sophistication or a parody of commodified glamour? This ambiguity complicates our interpretation of bodily gestures once they are severed from their historical and cultural frameworks. The estrangement felt in Walker may function as a rupture, revealing how our perceptions are shaped by power structures entangled with authority, identity, and societal and cultural norms. An edition of Walker (2010) is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Back to the video exhibition