A BODY AND OTHER OBJECTS
ongoing research & creation 2022 / 2023
"A physical object is a collection of matter within a defined boundary in three-dimensional space."
A BODY AND OTHER OBJECTS is a stage performance which explores the body as "matter", as "object", as "container". It aims to inquire into the qualities and capacities of this container, questioning the existence of hermetic borders. Through the objectification of the body through hair-hanging, the work aims to create a poetic and explorative space which embraces the ambiguity in the self and in nature. It attempts to blur the distinction between body and object.
As starting point the piece explores hair-hanging as a conditions which objectifies the body. The suspended body is placed in relation with another human body as well as other non-human bodies, exploring themes such as agency, gender, symbiosis, manipulation, coexistence of freedom within limitation, etc.
Inspired by the framework of object oriented ontology and New Materialism, the piece embraces the idea of "performative rigging", acknowledging the presence and essentiality of the rigging apparatus and exploring the ways in which the interaction with these functional objects transforms the space, the atmosphere and our gestures.
What does one body hold?
What is my skin a container for?
How can I objectify my body and how can an objects become a subject?
What permeates through the skin's membrane?
Is the world made of separate things of infinite spectrums?
The movement vocabulary used is derived from disciplines of hair-hanging, object work, head-balance, hand to hand / partnering and rigging.
As starting point the piece explores hair-hanging as a conditions which objectifies the body. The suspended body is placed in relation with another human body as well as other non-human bodies, exploring themes such as agency, gender, symbiosis, manipulation, coexistence of freedom within limitation, etc.
Inspired by the framework of object oriented ontology and New Materialism, the piece embraces the idea of "performative rigging", acknowledging the presence and essentiality of the rigging apparatus and exploring the ways in which the interaction with these functional objects transforms the space, the atmosphere and our gestures.
What does one body hold?
What is my skin a container for?
How can I objectify my body and how can an objects become a subject?
What permeates through the skin's membrane?
Is the world made of separate things of infinite spectrums?
The movement vocabulary used is derived from disciplines of hair-hanging, object work, head-balance, hand to hand / partnering and rigging.
ONE AND MANY
paralogical thinking in the art of hair-hanging
research process July - September 2022
supported by Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media
within the program NEUSTART KULTUR
within the program NEUSTART KULTUR
REFLECTIONS
In the context of the coexistence of “opposites” I am interested in how my artistic practice can influence thought patterns. In relation to contradiction and ambiguity, I deeply appreciate to feel an expansion of my thoughts beyond duality. This opens up to an inner understanding of the world more in terms of spectrums, interconnectedness and complexity and less in terms of duality and opposition. The physical practice becomes a site of study of these possibilities and has a direct impact on my personal and thus artistic life. It has a strong practical application and results in more understanding, empathy, connection and increases my capacity for and appreciation of complexity of the world and how I engage with it.
It is precisely this new aesthetic of “the in-between” or “spectral space” which motivates me to continue. In the future I am interested in a more compositional approach in order to gain information about the performative potential of this work. More specifically, I am interested in understanding how this paralogical-thinking approach can impact the audience’s thought patterns and their process of appreciation of the work they observe.
It is precisely this new aesthetic of “the in-between” or “spectral space” which motivates me to continue. In the future I am interested in a more compositional approach in order to gain information about the performative potential of this work. More specifically, I am interested in understanding how this paralogical-thinking approach can impact the audience’s thought patterns and their process of appreciation of the work they observe.
REFERENCES AND INSPIRATIONS
TENDERNESS MANIFESTO by Zoe Todd
Zoe Todd's work seeks to assert an ethic of tenderness, kindness and reciprocity across all engagements and entanglements, both academic and artistic.
ECOLOGICAL THOUGHT book by Timothy Morton
"In this passionate, lucid, and surprising book, Timothy Morton argues that all forms of life are connected in a vast, entangling mesh. This interconnectedness penetrates all dimensions of life. No being, construct, or object can exist independently from the ecological entanglement, Morton contends, nor does "Nature" exist as an entity separate from the uglier or more synthetic elements of life. Realizing this interconnectedness is what Morton calls the ecological thought."
MUTUAL AID book by Peter Kropotkin
"In this cornerstone of modern liberal social theory, Peter Kropotkin states that the most effective human and animal communities are essentially cooperative, rather than competitive. Kropotkin based this classic on his observations of natural phenomena and history, forming a work of stunning and well-reasoned scholarship. Essential to the understanding of human evolution as well as social organization, it offers a powerful counterpoint to the tenets of Social Darwinism. It also cites persuasive evidence of human nature's innate compatibility with anarchist society. Kropotkin profoundly influenced human biology and was one of the first systematic students of animal communities, and may be regarded as the founder of modern social ecology.
SINGULARITY poem by Marie Howe
Introducing us to "ecopoetry" this poem is inspired by the physics that created the earth, and calls us to imagine the singularity of what we once were...
ON THE BEACH AT NIGHT ALONE poem by Walt Whitman
A beautiful short poem about how all things are connected throughout time.
HAIR by Kurt Stenn
The evolutionary history of hair, the fibre is put into context: hair in history (as tied to textile mills and merchant associations), hair as a construct for cultural and self-identity, hair in the arts (as the material for artist's brushes and musical instruments), hair as commodity (used for everything from the inner lining of tennis balls to an absorbent to clean up oil spills), and hair as evidence in criminology.
Zoe Todd's work seeks to assert an ethic of tenderness, kindness and reciprocity across all engagements and entanglements, both academic and artistic.
ECOLOGICAL THOUGHT book by Timothy Morton
"In this passionate, lucid, and surprising book, Timothy Morton argues that all forms of life are connected in a vast, entangling mesh. This interconnectedness penetrates all dimensions of life. No being, construct, or object can exist independently from the ecological entanglement, Morton contends, nor does "Nature" exist as an entity separate from the uglier or more synthetic elements of life. Realizing this interconnectedness is what Morton calls the ecological thought."
MUTUAL AID book by Peter Kropotkin
"In this cornerstone of modern liberal social theory, Peter Kropotkin states that the most effective human and animal communities are essentially cooperative, rather than competitive. Kropotkin based this classic on his observations of natural phenomena and history, forming a work of stunning and well-reasoned scholarship. Essential to the understanding of human evolution as well as social organization, it offers a powerful counterpoint to the tenets of Social Darwinism. It also cites persuasive evidence of human nature's innate compatibility with anarchist society. Kropotkin profoundly influenced human biology and was one of the first systematic students of animal communities, and may be regarded as the founder of modern social ecology.
SINGULARITY poem by Marie Howe
Introducing us to "ecopoetry" this poem is inspired by the physics that created the earth, and calls us to imagine the singularity of what we once were...
ON THE BEACH AT NIGHT ALONE poem by Walt Whitman
A beautiful short poem about how all things are connected throughout time.
HAIR by Kurt Stenn
The evolutionary history of hair, the fibre is put into context: hair in history (as tied to textile mills and merchant associations), hair as a construct for cultural and self-identity, hair in the arts (as the material for artist's brushes and musical instruments), hair as commodity (used for everything from the inner lining of tennis balls to an absorbent to clean up oil spills), and hair as evidence in criminology.
