31 oktober – 28 november 2019

Presentation | 28 november during the event: The Handshake

more info about this event on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/595704267837355/

About Dimitri van den Wittenboer:

Dimitri’s background is in fine arts focusing on the exploration of the participatory aspects of performance art. In his collaborative artistic practice, he is curious about the potential of human interactions while critically questioning the current forms of social encounters in our society. For previous projects Dimitri has researched the history of western ritual traditions while relating them to the phenomenon of participation in fine arts performances and theatre practices. Recently his work has turned towards the public space and engages with the performativity of social interactions that can be found within urban environments.

“Participation asks for the commitment of the audience: to put a part of themselves into the encounter. I believe that participation can make art less consumable and more social through creating collective actions.” 

dimitrivandenwittenboer.com

“I am interested in the religious experience. There are many ways how one can generate this state in different traditions, reaching from the unifying rituals of the tribal cultures, meditation or the practices of solitude in the protestant Christianity. This topic is covered in studies of anthropology, religion studies and theology.

“Anthropologists see religion as the construction force of society. Roy Rappaport describes religion as composed of two interrelated elements of the Sacred and the Numinous. The Sacred is a function of discourse, and the Ritual the event in which it is realised. The Sacred is what we know as institutionalised Religion with all its forms of practices. The Numinous, on the other hand, is an individual experience, an incomprehensible non-discursive element of Religion.

“Otto Rudolf in his essay Das Heilige (the Holy) makes a deep analysis of the Numinous from a theologian and psychological perspective. He describes it as something which can not be expressed but only can be talked about using analogies of emotional states which are common to us. He talks about the feeling of Fear, Grace, Dependence and Ecstasy as the emotions which come close to the Numinous.

“In this project, I am interested in exploring the ecstatic state. I am looking for ways how this state of euphoric excitement can be generated in a group of performers and then be transcended to the audience. To generate this state I would like to use techniques of breathing, sounding and movement.

Breath

“Breathing is a powerful instrument which can be used to influence the psychic states. In moments of fear, excitement or aggression our breath changes drastically. I am interested in using the variations in breath to generate the state of high excitement. In the performative research, I am planning to try different breath techniques inspired by dynamic meditation (Osho), shamanic practices, pranayama and holotropic breathwork. I have experience in these fields and would like to see how this techniques can be abstracted from the mentioned context and be possibly used to generate excitement.

Sound

“The voice is another interesting instrument which I am interested in. Similar to breath the voice is used in various traditions to generate certain states or to create unity among a group of participants. In the chakra sound meditation, vocals are sang separately related to the chakras to trigger a certain effect. In ritualistic practices, shouts or songs are performed to create a unifying experience. Further various humming and chanting techniques are worked with in eastern traditions to elevate the state of mind. Also in this context, I would like to try to find the core elements of these techniques and see how it can be used in my work.

Movement

“Finally movement. Dancing, shaking and various forms of rhythmic movement are used similarly as the voice and breath. In the Kundalini mediation shaking is an important element to generate energy in the body which is then further directed. Further movements from dance, shamanic practices and hatha yoga will be a starting point.

“If one takes a look at the history of avant-garde theatre then probably Jerzy Grotowski is the one who deepened the exploration of the religious state the most. In the tradition of Antonin Artaud, he was trying to elaborate on how the actor can reach a primordial state through physical action. Grotowski was aware that in our fragmented society the unifying experience of the ritual is not possible. But he believed that if the actor touches this primordial energy of the human being the audience through mere watching of it will be able to connect to it as well. However, Grotowski stopped the Theatre of Production after a few performances and focused his work more on research and the work with the actor. He saw theatre as a vehicle for the actor to reach a higher state of being.

“I think that he gave up the exploration of the possibilities to transcend the religious state to the audience a little early. As Rappaport states it, Ritual is important as it allows the audience to get in a transcendent state without an extended preparation or training. All these elements are included in the structure of the ritual. Ritual, therefore, makes these states accessible to ordinary people.

“With regard to this, I will look for a way of incorporating the explored techniques into a performance and look for ways to engage the audience. It is important for me to fuse these abstract techniques with motives of daily life and to make them, therefore, more accessible to the contemporary audience. The question is, what is the foundation fo ritualistic actions and how can it be translated into the language of contemporary western society? This is a very important point for me because I think that the mere presentation of something from a distant culture or time or just something completely detached from the profane reality, can not create the necessary relation to the audience. As a result, the audience becomes even more distant observing it as an object of entertainment instead of being drawn into it.

“I am aware that it would be easier to achieve these states in the audience by making them do a certain action. However, I think that the distance with which the people prefer to approach an artwork not necessary must be challenged through a forceful call for participation. I would like to look for a more authentic way to create a relation to the work and make the audience part of it.”

29 July – 10 August 2019

Presentation : 10 August 17:00

Skin as a border between the inner and the outer world. As the most intimate human cover. As the outermost envelope. As the closest contact point to our surroundings. Skin covers the many layers of the body, interwowen and engraved with memories and stories.

During my first residency at CLOUD, my research was mostly about the sensation, influence and relationship between different anatomical “layers” of the body and movement.
Now I will start working with sound and textile materials, bringing new layers and aspects to my movement researches.

After a week of exchanging ideas and experimentig with Claire Chatel (costume & stage design), the interaction between body, movement and material will get integrated in the performative process. How can textile material and movement influence each other? What kind of movement possibilities does a certain material have to offer? How does movement change the shape and meaning of a textile object? What new pictures and stories can arise during the interaction between movement and material?

Furthermore I want to start developing first compositions for voice and loop station, playing with text fragments, layering and different kind of sounds.

1 – 8 June 2019

Una Minou Wiplinger

BA in Eurhythmics/Music and Movement Pedagogy at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna (mdw). A piano and voice pedagogue, she is also active as artist and educator in the fields of dance and theatre for children and adults. She is working as a freelance dancer, musician and eurhythmics practitioner and is a member of the Austrian dance and performance company schallundrauch agency

See the world as a mystery.

An onion with many layers.

Look beneath the surface.

Peel things to it ́s core.

Follow the threads of life.

LAYER BY LAYER is an interdisciplinary performance project. Dance, textile art and live music will fuse together. Therefore, I am collaborating with Claire Chatel, a French-Austrian textile artist and designer, as well as with two Austrian musicians.

Theme: “MULTIPLE LAYERS “

Universe- Worlds- Body- Society- Movement- Living beings- Thoughts- Materials- Emotions- Stories- Relations- Life- Textiles- Systems- Perception- Dreams- Sounds- People… are complex.

They consist of many elements, of different layers. Their structure is being shaped by time, by life. Each experience leaves marks, shaping and changing the story. Sounds, textiles and movements can be broken down into their finest fragments. They can condense and dissolve themselves. They influence and communicate, connect, separate or envelop each other. The performer plunges into different layers, atmospheres of different surroundings, and into her own inner universe.

Fields of Research & Questions:

Textiles, sounds and the anatomy of the body consist of layers, waves, and structures. We see and hear, but usually we only perceive “the whole” or rather the uppermost layers.

To what extent can a human being perceive deeper layers and differentiate between them? In more concrete terms: To what extent can we feel the structure of a fabric on our skin, feel our fascias, make out the different voices of a sound carpet or perceive the feeling that lies hidden beneath another?

Marta Worner’s research exposition (13-26 May 2019)

Showing the outcome of the residency on 26 May

1st Show : 14:30 – 15:30

2nd Show : 16:30 – 17:30

Open attending sessions between 20 – 22 May

( see section “participation” for more info)

While space becomes fragmented, Marta researches around the ability of the body to become, through the simple act of falling into the unknown.

About the research

After two years of practice-led research framed within the Choreography Master program of Codarts and Fontys Universities, Marta finds herself in the final phase of her inquiry in which she will bring together her two lines of inquiry, the destructuration of the space through scenographic tools and its relation with the kinetics of the body. Below the inspirational umbrella of the idea of performing the Deleuzian concept of “becoming”, Marta addresses the dichotomy structure-destructure and its application and affections to the body.

Inspired by the Deleuzian concept of “becoming” (coming from the Latin verb “devenire” which means “coming down, falling in, arriving to”) Marta Wörner proposes the inquire of the act of “fall in” as a tool for de-patterning, a physical door to the unknown. The research will be presented one the one hand by an exposition of her documentation and on the other hand by an interdisciplinary movement work. The resulting interdisciplinary piece is a playful physical and spatial dialogue between controlling and “falling in”, or between balance and uncertainty that happens in a fragmented and multidimensional space. Starting from the destructuration of the space through the scenographic practice Marta uses an interactive steel construction with video projections together with sound and light design tools to build a fragmented universe that challenges the body to find its place inside that fluent setting through a process of becoming or falling in. The research has been led by an always changing, falling research question: How the fragmentation and destructuration of the space relate to the kinetic action of falling knowledge of my findings?

During the residency at CLOUD/DANSLAB

In this artistic residency at Cloud/Danslab, Marta Wörner will be experimenting on how to present her research documentation through the exposition model. Rather than create an academic paper to share her research, Marta has the aim to facilitate an experience that allows the audience to enter into the research universe she has been diving in during these years and to generate new knowledge together with the viewer’s experience and presence. For that, Marta will design an interactive space that, in coherence with her performative work, allows a nomadic experience in which the audience can access her documentation freely but guided and informed. During the residency, Marta will invite artists from different fields to allow their experiences and comments to influence her design.

Participation

If you are interested in participating, experiencing or questioning Marta’s research during the residency period, please, write an email to mwornersarabia@gmail.com with a short text explaining why would you like to attend to one of the research sessions and your availability between the 20th and 22nd of May. Moreover, there will be a showing of the outcome of the residency period during the 26th of May. If you would like to attend, please, send an email to mwornersarabia@gamail.com .The participation in both activities is free of charge, as it is thought of as an exchange. However, the inscription is necessary and the commitment to the appointment is appreciated.

About Marta Wörner

Marta Wörner is a motivated and enthusiastic interdisciplinary artist trained in modern dance in different countries and a Bachelor’s Degree in Audiovisual Communication. Throughout her career, she combines contemporary dance and audiovisual work such as projections and soundscapes for her performances. As a choreographer, she is seeking for expressive and artistic languages that can evolve from the interaction and mixture of different art fields and formats. She aims to create vocabularies that entail a transdisciplinary language.