Utifrån Utåt

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Project Period 2022-2023

Utifrån Utåt is a pilot project investigating the interface of body/place through dancing.

The project was carried out in collaboration with visual artist Birgitta Burling, philosopher Sven-Olof Wallenstein and the performances/research group Svärmen (The Swarm) founded in 2012 and consisting of Linda Adami, Dan Johansson, Tilman O’Donnell, Ellen Söderhult and Rasmus Ölme. The investigations were inspired by an understanding of camouflage not just having an evolutionary explanation but also understood as a form of inherent mimetic drive between a being and its surrounding. Camouflaging as a form of over-identification from a being towards its surrounding and a blending-in where the boundaries between a creature and its surrounding blur. A score for such physical practice of blending-in was formulated (see below) and carried out (see video documentation below)

The research collaboration with Wallenstein explores the aesthetic experience as a form of sense-making. Dance’s relation to sense has historically mostly been understood in terms of sensual, sensible or sensuous, but less so to making sense. Utifrån Utåt departs from the idea that we can make sense of a place by investigating it through physical movement. The collaboration with Burling is based on previous collaboration on Burling’s research on haptics.

The pilot project has resulted in the funded full-scale project An Indiscernible Zone (2023-24).

SCORE

Find a place that fall under one of the two following categories:

A “terrain vague”, in the sense that it is a place that appears vague/undefined to you. This place can be big or small. It could be a “waste land” or a small forgotten corner.
A liminal place. This is a transitional space between two places. It could be a slow cross-fade or a sudden cut.

Once you have found the place you will mediate your experience of that place, through dance. Departing from the idea that “the smallest unit of action is letting something affect you” (Timothy Morton). Using your own body as a haptic measurement tool, your impressions from the experienced environment are expressed back to the environment. Impressions become expressions as a form of blending into the place (reminder: camouflaging as a form of overidentification with the surrounding).

The dance should be considered as a performance with a fixed duration of max five minutes and can include music, costumes and props.

Document your dance in the following ways: