DAY 1 — SPACE, SHAPE & GRAZING
DAY 1 — SPACE, SHAPE AND GRAZING
OPEN IMPROVISATIONS
The workshop began with three open improvisations in three groups.
Conditions included:
- no balcony;
- no deliberate harm;
- shared observation;
- feedback after each improvisation.
The first improvisation used primarily bodies and no music.
During the second:
- Arjan entered the improvisation;
- architecture became more active;
- some voice appeared.
During the third:
- Roel entered;
- music was added;
- voice became more present.
This progression altered the available materials without prescribing a final aesthetic.
SPACE AS A LENS
A seven-minute walking investigation introduced:
SPACE
as the principal lens.
Participants could:
- walk;
- stop;
- sit;
- lie down;
- observe spatial relationships;
- attend to architecture;
- remain aware of the full room.
The instruction was not to make an interesting performance.
The work was to become interested in space.
SHAPE
Shape was investigated through:
- ordinary bodily shapes;
- detailed physical scanning;
- weight;
- tension;
- curves;
- lines;
- symmetry;
- asymmetry;
- facial expression;
- focus;
- reproduction of a shape in another location.
THIRTY SHAPES / THIRTY SECONDS
Participants made:
THIRTY SHAPES
in:
THIRTY SECONDS.
The exercise exposed:
- habitual choices;
- physical preferences;
- repeated patterns;
- limitations;
- individual vocabularies.
After specific feedback, the exercise was repeated.
IMAGINED SHAPE
Participants spent thirty seconds visualising one shape before embodying it.
The distinction was between:
- composing mentally in advance;
- allowing the body to produce a rapid series;
- studying what appears.
POSITIVE / NEGATIVE SPACE
In pairs:
- one performer created a shape;
- the second studied it;
- the second added a shape in relation;
- the relation could occupy positive or negative space;
- further shapes developed without separating the bodies.
The task emphasised response to what already existed.
SHAPE REMAINS ALIVE
A shape was not treated as a dead statue.
The performer continued to investigate:
- tension;
- breath;
- detail;
- position;
- internal activity;
- relation to the space.
GRAZING
Groups walked for five minutes.
When the alarm sounded, the place where they stopped became their research location.
They then:
- investigated the site individually;
- observed architecture;
- listened;
- smelled;
- sensed atmosphere;
- returned to the studio;
- transposed selected information;
- composed the individual transpositions together;
- received feedback;
- performed again.
TRANSPOSITION
The whole site could not be transported into the studio.
Participants selected fragments that held attention.
The facilitators described this as a metaphor for collective composition:
- gather information;
- select;
- bring what is necessary;
- allow materials to coexist;
- decide when one element should recede or emerge.
DOCUMENTED STATEMENTS
“The notion of observant participant instead of originator / creator.”
“Don’t try to be interesting, be interested.”
Treat these as statements recorded in the participant protocol.