IMAGINE THAT YOU ARE A HORSE AND THE OWNER OF THE HORSE AT THE SAME TIME
OWN OWN BODY OWN
Performative Video Installation
September 4 - 6, 2018
Mojo Club Hamburg
own own body own is an international project between visual and performance art by Kirstin Burckhardt and Brenda I. Steinecke Soto. Working both in Medellín (COL) and Hamburg (GER) the projects centers around the psychological concept "body ownership", questioning the sense of ownership and belongingness to the body. This ultimately evokes the questions: Do I have a body? Am I a body? Do I make (my) body?
The project is made up of several parts: a performative video-installation, an exhibition (with an outreach workshop and performative talks), and a publication.
The performative video-installation starts with the videos of three interview partners (called "video performers") reflecting upon their own body relationship in terms of having*doing*making a body. Their voices create a narrative that reflects the nuanced interrelation between identity and body, especially in relation to how we see our body through our "own" or "other" eyes.
After this introduction, the performative video-installation expands upon this topic of "gaze" and "body". To generate the video images, the two artists, Burckhardt and Soto, developed on a choreographic score based on the co-dependency of their bodies: They mounted two GoPro cameras on their chest, thereby, which embodied the respective and mutually influencing ego perspective. They finally confronted this movement-induced perspective "into the world" with an outside camera, which filmed them "in the world". The fact that the "worlds" of Hamburg and Medellín merge into one another is the result of a decision-making process related to the question: How do I move in which context? What is my/a "freedom of movement"? Medellín was considered the most dangerous city in the world in the 90s and although Hamburg is almost antagonistic to it, there is also a sense of fear of attack (and thus dis-ownership). Based on Brenda's own experience in her hometown Medellín, the two artists in both cities moved with care, determination and confidence. The underlying belief is that social spaces can only be changed through active physical presence.
The choreographic concept is based on the principle of "real-time composition": the concrete movements of the live performers emerge in the present time; they nourish themselves from the memories collected in the rehearsal process and are witness of the fragility and vitality of the body. The bodies, their actions and gazes constantly negotiate aspects of body (dis-) ownership between each other and with regard to the presence of other looking bodies.
The audience is invited to choose where to sit: either in between the screens and very close to the performers, or on the Mojo Club stage, which is further away from the actions. Also sitting along the outer circle watching the screens from behind and the actions through the spaces between the screens was an option. This setting implies that everyone had to make a decision about where to place themselves in space and accordingly to that from which perspective is every person going to look at the situation. This decision is significant for the kind of experience that the person is going to have during the time of the performance.
Our special Thanks to:
Leif Nüske, Christina Scholten, Anika Kraus, Max Asmussen, Florian Wienbreier and the Mojo Club Team. To Jana Seehusen, Kirstine Hansen, Juan Fernando Londoño, Prof. Dr. Jonathan Echeverri, Dr. Thorsten Ries, Zakia Sewell and Arne Köppen. To Andrea Giraldo, Pilar Calderón, Daniel Mora, Thomas Poveda, Weimar Muñoz and das Pequeño Teatro Medellín. To Christiane Stange and the Tango Matrix. To Pedro Steinecke and the Burckhardt Family. To Hanna Kayenburg, Ingrid Baireuther, Anna Sabrina Schmid and the Elbkulturfonds Team. To „Goldrausch“ Berlin and its participants 2016. To the Bewegungsraum Team (Gängeviertel) and K3. To Ilka von Bodungen and the Hamburgische Kulturstiftung Team. To Dr. Wenzel Bilger, Anne Bechstedt and the Goethe Institut Bogotá Team. To Matthias Elwardt, Tina Steiner, Lenka Brandt, Hans Jaich, Daniel Montenk, Ann-Marie Herold, Maxie Schulte, Alex Frías, Nina Kleineidam, Hernan Arango, Marco and Ana Maria Marin. To Tina Uebel, Claudia Nethge, Julia Metropolit, Jessica Owusu Boakye and Prof. Dr. Markus Klaus Schäffauer.
Performative Video Installation
September 4 - 6, 2018
Mojo Club Hamburg
own own body own is an international project between visual and performance art by Kirstin Burckhardt and Brenda I. Steinecke Soto. Working both in Medellín (COL) and Hamburg (GER) the projects centers around the psychological concept "body ownership", questioning the sense of ownership and belongingness to the body. This ultimately evokes the questions: Do I have a body? Am I a body? Do I make (my) body?
The project is made up of several parts: a performative video-installation, an exhibition (with an outreach workshop and performative talks), and a publication.
The performative video-installation starts with the videos of three interview partners (called "video performers") reflecting upon their own body relationship in terms of having*doing*making a body. Their voices create a narrative that reflects the nuanced interrelation between identity and body, especially in relation to how we see our body through our "own" or "other" eyes.
After this introduction, the performative video-installation expands upon this topic of "gaze" and "body". To generate the video images, the two artists, Burckhardt and Soto, developed on a choreographic score based on the co-dependency of their bodies: They mounted two GoPro cameras on their chest, thereby, which embodied the respective and mutually influencing ego perspective. They finally confronted this movement-induced perspective "into the world" with an outside camera, which filmed them "in the world". The fact that the "worlds" of Hamburg and Medellín merge into one another is the result of a decision-making process related to the question: How do I move in which context? What is my/a "freedom of movement"? Medellín was considered the most dangerous city in the world in the 90s and although Hamburg is almost antagonistic to it, there is also a sense of fear of attack (and thus dis-ownership). Based on Brenda's own experience in her hometown Medellín, the two artists in both cities moved with care, determination and confidence. The underlying belief is that social spaces can only be changed through active physical presence.
The choreographic concept is based on the principle of "real-time composition": the concrete movements of the live performers emerge in the present time; they nourish themselves from the memories collected in the rehearsal process and are witness of the fragility and vitality of the body. The bodies, their actions and gazes constantly negotiate aspects of body (dis-) ownership between each other and with regard to the presence of other looking bodies.
The audience is invited to choose where to sit: either in between the screens and very close to the performers, or on the Mojo Club stage, which is further away from the actions. Also sitting along the outer circle watching the screens from behind and the actions through the spaces between the screens was an option. This setting implies that everyone had to make a decision about where to place themselves in space and accordingly to that from which perspective is every person going to look at the situation. This decision is significant for the kind of experience that the person is going to have during the time of the performance.
Our special Thanks to:
Leif Nüske, Christina Scholten, Anika Kraus, Max Asmussen, Florian Wienbreier and the Mojo Club Team. To Jana Seehusen, Kirstine Hansen, Juan Fernando Londoño, Prof. Dr. Jonathan Echeverri, Dr. Thorsten Ries, Zakia Sewell and Arne Köppen. To Andrea Giraldo, Pilar Calderón, Daniel Mora, Thomas Poveda, Weimar Muñoz and das Pequeño Teatro Medellín. To Christiane Stange and the Tango Matrix. To Pedro Steinecke and the Burckhardt Family. To Hanna Kayenburg, Ingrid Baireuther, Anna Sabrina Schmid and the Elbkulturfonds Team. To „Goldrausch“ Berlin and its participants 2016. To the Bewegungsraum Team (Gängeviertel) and K3. To Ilka von Bodungen and the Hamburgische Kulturstiftung Team. To Dr. Wenzel Bilger, Anne Bechstedt and the Goethe Institut Bogotá Team. To Matthias Elwardt, Tina Steiner, Lenka Brandt, Hans Jaich, Daniel Montenk, Ann-Marie Herold, Maxie Schulte, Alex Frías, Nina Kleineidam, Hernan Arango, Marco and Ana Maria Marin. To Tina Uebel, Claudia Nethge, Julia Metropolit, Jessica Owusu Boakye and Prof. Dr. Markus Klaus Schäffauer.
