Arts Thread

“What is more important for us, (...) than the control, the owning and operation, of our own physical selves? And yet it is so automatic, so familiar, we never give it a thought.” From ‘The Disembodied Lady’ by Oliver Sacks Each person gets to live in one body, with its limitations and capabilities; the body is a tool one uses to explore and develop movement. Following Sacks’s suggestion, in this project, a simple phenomenon is being challenged to enrich our world experience. By gaining control over another body a limitless array of new moves may be obtained. Estrangement is an experiment-driven research project exploring identity, movement, and (dis)embodiment themes. It provides a framework to challenge the notion of embodiment in which the subject is not only represented but also in control of a different body, facilitating a new proprioceptive dialogue with an altered reflection. Through VR experiences, performances, and workshops, both physical and digital, the project studies corporal modification and how it can affect our proprioception, for the sake of deepening and expanding mental and physical bodily capabilities related to movement. As part of the project, a live improvisational performance called 'Transformance' was created in which the dancer was interacting with their digital reflection for the first time, pushing themselves out of their comfort zone toward moving in new ways.