Ruimte in Levende Lijven

2023

A study of the 6 surfaces through embodiment, divided in three chapters: the wall, the floor, the ceiling. The research is mainly documented on film and through conversation. It is concluded in a publication, an interactive performance with a group of students and a video work that shows the space filmed from two points on the body while doing embodied research.

The urge to work with the body came from a frustration that most things inside the art academy building where we went to everyday, happend between these 6 surfaces. A lot of time was spend on talking instead of doing. We wanted to gain a different understanding of our relation to the building. How the qualities of the materials and the way we moved, influenced the way we learned and interacted with others and how a different approach to those things could spark a sense belonging and collaboration. Eveline and I spoke a similar language that did not require words.

A short text written about the wall after first experimentation: The wall feels like a horizontal surface instead of vertical. I can feel its gravity. Without seeing the white paint I sense its intimacy. The intimacy of sharing a building with other bodies. Of Eveline tapping the wall right next to me. My cheek warms what felt cold at first, materials of which I’m not sure what they are, while with my ear I hear people working on the other side. Even on different floors. The weave of the building unravels itself. I understand where I am.

In collaboration with Eveline Suermondt.

Ceiling

One wall

Two walls

Three walls

Four walls

Floor