Ceramic by Anna Kryvych

This work is part of the “Breaking News: Chickens at Yoga” sculpture series — an ongoing exploration of bodily presence in an age of technological saturation, where gestures of mindfulness and self-connection become mediated, mechanical, and estranged. Coco 7 freezes in Balasana — one of the most calming and protective yoga poses, which in the yogic tradition symbolizes a return to oneself, a retreat into an inner sanctuary. Here, however, it becomes more of an instinctive contraction — a gesture of vulnerability without a subject. Because of her very constitution, the pose is unattainable for her; all she can do is simulate it. The glossy red surface resembles skin or a shell — not protective, but exposing fragility. The posture promises safety, yet in this interpretation, it becomes a form that has outlived itself. Coco 7 in Balasana is an image of bodily memory of calm that never arrives — an imitation of repose under conditions where repose is impossible. Another manifestation of automatic presence: the body seeks protection but no longer knows from what.