Re-embodiment & Dis/abilities: Performing River
Symposium:
Title:
- Re-embodiment & Dis/abilities: Performing River
Organiser/Presenter(s):
Statement:
Re-embodiment & Dis/abilities: Performing River is a workshop that explores immersive, ritualized, intimate movement experiences for mixed-ability participants willing to wear Oculus Quest2 VR headset as well as wearable sensors or fabrics. The participants are invited to examine their responses to sounds and tactile images (imagined relations) of water, river, flow, movement, liquidity – extending body (in whatever restricted, limited or possible way) to an interface between the real there, and the virtual nature drawings we shall instigate through our VR software and physical movement ideas.
We also plan to create experiments in inter-action – extending the notion of illustrating/drawing into the relationship between Oculus Quest headset wearer (performer) and illustrator/guide who hold the Oculus controllers and draws, in real time & in real flow. We understand such architectures as “kinetic atmospheres” which open up participatory scenarios, composed with fabrics, paper, drawing materials (graphite) as well as wearables, “design-in-motion” accoutrements or costumes created by Michèle Danjoux. Choreographic proposals (Xu, Birringer) emphasize sensorial and affective ritual engagements between performers and participant observers.
Performing River is ritual: The ethical questions raised by river/water – its availability, pollution, infrastructural dimension for local and wider trade – highlight that water is not just a metaphor of thinking practices, it is a site of deep contention and political crisis, as currents, floods, currencies, ecologies and economies flow together or collide. By exploring river (and flooding) as elemental, and water as vital infrastructure and inspiration for design as well as climate activism and consideration of habitats and ecospheres, this workshop reflects creatively on the function and circulation of this special medium in various cultures, examining its potential in fostering collective imaginaries.
