Making the common: a choreographic project on the theme of the production of space
The project is a practical and theoretical research on and around the issue of space making.
Starting from the body in motion, I propose to look at its production of space to open a broader reflection on how space is appropriated and distributed within a choreographic frame- a live event that could be a piece for theatre or a site specific project-, particularly focusing on how the space of a dance can be equally accessible to the producer (the dancer, the choreographer) and the receiver (the spectator) and be shared as object of knowledge.
The core of the research is a reflection whether the space of a dance can be considered as ‘common’ and if so, as “not that which we encounter in you, in him, in me but that which occurs, passes, between us”1. According to Virno’ s definition, the ‘common’ is not as static object but a sort of movement that dynamically passes between ‘us’. Following this thought, the research is upon a specific articulation of the body that allows the emergence of this kind of stream, a sort of common code based on a particular use of physical principles, visible and less visible body parts to eventually suggest a shift of focus from the moving body towards movement itself as a ‘shared’ property.
In this light, I propose to approach the issue of the ’common’ not only by looking into the mechanisms of the production of space from the body in motion but also into how space gains a specific signification and purpose according to the participation and diverse relations that emerge among the ones that are present during the event.
Questions arise: how do we define the space of the body? What does it mean to speak of producing space?2 And what kind of space(s) do we generate when we produce or watch a dance?
1 De Bruyne, Paul and Gilien,Pascal “The dismeasure of art. An interview with Paolo Virno” in Being an artist inPost-Fordist times (2012), NAI publishers Rotterdam (p.23)
2 Lefebvre, Henri “The production of space” (Wiley-Blackwell, 1974) p.15
This blog is a way to keep track of the process, which I am developing in the frame of the project Culture@work during a residency from the 7th of April till the 7th of May at Atelier RE.AL in Lisbon.
To get the password for the videos please contact: pannikaster@gmail.com
piazzaproject 