PERCEIVING THE WORLD- PERFORMATIVE EXERCISES FOR CARE
3-days workshop by Julischka Stengele

Friday, 13th – Sunday, 15th of October 2023
10:00-14:30, Dancehouse Lefkosia

body drawings | 2010 | Institut für alles Mögliche, Berlin | Photographer: Julischka Stengele

‘‘In an accelerated, wounded world, with hearts, minds and lives filled with anger, sadness, judgment, hate, uncertainty and separation, granting someone or something time and undivided attention becomes a potent tool to counteract these states of emotional emergency.

Yet, how do we pay attention in a way so it can unfold its power? Here is where perception comes into play. My thesis is: The act of looking really closely at someone or something, is something so radically caring it leaves little space for indifference or devaluation. Surprisingly, rather rational or formal techniques of gazing and recording, borrowed from the visual arts context, can aid us here.

While eyesight is many people’s primary sense of perception, it is not the only one. The eye can tell us only ever one part of the story. To fully perceive an object, a space or a person, to explore their full nature, we need to make use of all our senses. Each of them will provide us with different information. Listening to all of it and perhaps even letting another sense be the primary narrator of the story about the thing we’re exploring, can be truly eye-opening (pun intended!).

Both time and attention are central materials in the performance field. And so are body and space/site. Reason enough to investigate them thoroughly and carefully.

In the course of these three days, we will engage in multisensory explorations of the (outdoor) space, as well as our bodies, dive into the dynamics of looking and being looked at, make ourselves available to each other as material in precisely guided settings, ask questions to the site(s) which we inhabit, make recordings (written or mental notes) and practice to verbalize our experiences and findings. There are solo, duo and group exercises’’.

Level of experience: open level, suitable for all
Workshop Language: English
Bring: Comfortable clothes, curiosity, something to write (pen+paper), water + food

Participation cost:
50 euros/ 40 euros for friends of Dancehouse Lefkosia
Early bird discount -20%: Expression of interest and payment of the participation cost by the 20^th of September.
Limited number of participants / Registration is on a first come first served basis.

Expression of interest:
at info@dancehouselefkosia.com with subject ‘Perceiving the World‘ by the 11th of October.

*On Wednesday, 11^th of October at 20:00 there will be an Artist’s Talk with Julishcka Stengele.

Workshop facilitator:
Julischka Stengele lives in Vienna and works internationally as an artist, performance maker, curator, writer, workshop facilitator and lecturer. She studied visual communication, performance and fine arts in Berlin, Helsinki and Vienna. Her diverse projects deal with the effects of social power relations, stigmas and ideological norming on body and mind, as well as possibilities for their emancipation through the means of art. Stengele’s work has been presented in more than 20 countries worldwide and received several awards. Most recently the H13 Austria Prize for Performance (2020), the Advancement Award of Vienna’s Independent Scene (2020) and the Austrian State Scholarship for Visual Arts (2021). Instagram: @studio.stengele