within the independent space index festival 2023
Fri 2.6. – Sun 4.6.23 // 14.00 – 18.00
within the independent space indexfestivals 2023 – The festival of project spaces in Vienna
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, June 2-4, Vienna’s independent art spaces are jointly hosting citywide open days. All participating spaces will be open from 2 to 6 p.m this weekend, and have ongoing exhibitions which visitors can attend without pre-registration and free of charge.
Fri 2.6. – Sun 4.6.23 // 14.00 – 18.00
Bräuhausgasse 40, 1050 Vienna / pay as you wish / food & drinks
With Ari Ban, Flóra Boros, Carola Fuchs, Fiona Hanley, Marija Jociūtė, Felix Kaya, Costas Kekis, Rotraud Kern, Claire Lefévre, Elina Lautamäki, Yoh Morishita, Giordana Pascucci, Laura Pudelek and Benedikt Steiner.
practicing embodied perspectives #1
within the independent space index festival 2023
We attempt to break out of the straight line and let ourself in a process of dis- and reassembly meaning. We make fools of ourself and are witnesses of loopy pathways guiding the way to the unresolved solution. We inquire about the many probabilities of action and let the unknown unfold. Questioning the hierarchies of what gets written about one’s life, performing a ritual of personal and collective repair, we redefine the human relationship with planet earth.
Artists and team members of Im_flieger in the year 2023 got invited to share their artistic practices, performances and other formats. 14 artists replied with different contributions. This 3-day program is inviting visitors to participate in or witness a variety of body-based practices and writing-workshops, and to experience performances, video installations and hybrid formats.
Detailled programm:
Fri 2.6.23 – Sun 4.6.23
14.00 – 18.00 // BOUNCE // Costas Kekis (GR/AT) // Video-Installation, 20’ loop
Bounce by Costas Kekis is a performative ritual of personal and collective healing. A group of five performers work together to create sensory body practices of emotional resilience, driven by a need for care, healing, endurance, and unfolding. To the dark sounds of Tanja Fuchs aka Abu Gabi, the performers draw on physical awareness of self, space, and other, creating a choreography of personal and shared stories in their quest for endurance.
14.00 – 18.00 // TOXIC SOCIETY: COFFEEHOUSETALK // Felix Kaya (AT) // Installation
coffeehousetalk was created in 2019 as part of the “toxic society” project. Pallets picked up at the Naschmarkt were carefully assembled. The inspiration for the work was the self-destructive urge of man as well as the industrial enslavement of other living beings.
Fri 2.6.23
14.00 // POETRY AND THE UNCONSCIOUS // Benedikt Steiner (CH/AT) // Workshop, 60–90’
Who speaks when we write? Using the technique of montage we will try to approach the unconscious by writing. Following Jacques Lacan’s formulation ‚The unconscious is structured like a language’, we will lift unheard linguistic treasures through a process of dis- and reassembly meaning.
15.30 // QUANTUM CASUAL // Yoh Morishita (JP/AT) & Marija Jociūtė (LT/AT) // improvisation performance, 30′
After their recent collaboration within their residency at Im_flieger, the artists meet in the studio space again. Using their research on quantum and other related theories, they inquire about the many probabilities of action and let the unknown unfold.
16.00 // WHAT DO I DO FOR A LIVING? IS BEING SILLY AND HOT NOT ENOUGH? // Ari Ban (AT) & Claire Lefèvre (FR/AT) // writing workshop, 120’
Ari researches queer history, particularly through studying biographies and collecting intimate details within them. Claire writes biographies, and includes intimate details, invisible labour, and humour within them. Together they investigate the biography as a format, questioning the hierarchies of what gets written about one’s life. They propose a shift towards care work, gossip and ornamental platitudes as a queer practice of relationality.
Sat 3.6.23
14.00 // CINDY // Flóra Boros (HU/AT) // performance (work in progress showing) // 35’
CINDY is an experiment that kinesthetically portrays the mathematical model of game theory, where loopy pathways guide the way to the unresolved solution.
15.00 // WARM UP // Giordana Pascucci (IT/AT) // Workshop // 30´
A physical warm-up for everyone, young and not so young, experienced and less experienced to increase our movement abilities, always respecting the individual characteristics and natural capacities of each one.
16.00 // EXTENDED CONFIGURATIONS: TABLEAUX VIVANTS // Carola Fuchs (AT) // Workshop, 40’
An investigation of spatial configuration possibilities, a danced image of the spatial boundary or the attempt to break out of the straight line.
Sun 4.6.23
14.00 // WHAT A WONDERFUL WASTE OF TIME // Elina Lautamäki (FI/AT) // Workshop, 45’
“In my current work I am interested in the figure of the fool. In the workshop we will approach the fool with different exercises and do things that we are not supposed to do.”
15.30 // WHAT A WONDERFUL WASTE OF TIME // Elina Lautamäki (FI/AT) // Performance, 15’
16.00 // WHEN THE SUN KISSES THE MOON // Laura Pudelek (DE/AT) & Rotraud Kern (AT) // Performance, 30’
When the sun kisses the moon. A group of performing artists creates their own cosmology in dance, music, text, and film to redefine the human relationship with planet earth. They explore performative events as self-made rituals to practice a healing connection towards the nature inside and outside us. When the sun kisses the moon – what is a symbol for the alchemist moment when lead transforms in gold – expands as a mycelium body: initiated in a solo appearance of the Dutch performance artist Robert Steijn, it transformed in a research collaboration with the musician and composer Laura Pudelek, who now started to work with the choreographer and dancer Rotraud Kern. As a mycelium body, they work mostly underground. Also looking for other people to join. They consider their public events like popping up mushrooms to spread the seeds of what they found underground into the open air.
17.00 // X MARKS THE SPOT: EMBODIED POETRY // Fiona Hanley (IE) // Workshop, 75’
In this workshop we will write from an embodied perspective, using movement and writing exercises to situate us in place and tap into our sensory encounter with the world. We will explore writing infused by movement; movement infused by writing.
Photos: Johanna Nielson
Ari Ban (AT) is an illustrator, writer and garderobier, currently studying Contextual Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. His main focus is researching queer history, particularly through studying biographies and collecting intimate details within them. This shift of attention towards the relatial is Ari’s foundation for his work with drawing and text.
Benedikt Steiner (CH/AT) born 1990 in Basel, is a poet and visual artist. Bachelor of Arts in Experimental Design in Lucerne and studies of Language Arts in Vienna. Writes poetry, makes books and paintings, initiates exhibitions, workshops and performances. Most recently: spuren in einem. poems(TEXT/RAHMEN, 2023) www.benedikt-steiner.ch
Carola Fuchs (AT) studied Comparative Literature inVienna and Aarhus, Denmark. Later she spent 3 years in France where she studied at the University Paris 8 and completed an M.A. degree in dance and Art Theory. In addition, she is trained in Martha Graham technique. For 8 Years she is working in the field of arts and education, as a mediator, tour guide and researcher(Belvedere, Kunsthalle Wien). She participates in various projects in Vienna ́s art scene and abroad. In her practice, she attempts to combine performative aspects with knowledge exchangein order to create new formats of artistic dialogue. www.carolafuchs.com
Claire Lefèvre (FR/AT) is a femme choreographer, insomniac writer, and reality TV enthusiast currently based in Vienna, Austria. She likes to think of herself as a hostess with the mostest, welcoming collaborators and audience members into kitsch landscapes where politics and poetics are gently interwoven. Currently she is exploring the archetype and working methods of a performance doula, a role imagined to disinvisibilize care work in the context of performance making. She’s also working on a new piece, let’s see where that goes. www.clairelefevre.com
Costas Kekis (GR/AT) began dancing to pop music in his family’s living room and later continued this work on stage as a performer and choreographer. His works were shown among others at the Ostertanztage Salzburg, at the Altera Pars Theater in Athens, at the 100 Grad Festival Berlin and in Vienna at brut, Raw Matters, Tanzquartier, WUK and ImPulsTanz. In addition to his work as a dancer and choreographer, Costas Kekis also works as a dramaturge and choreographic consultant with numerous other artists. www.costaskekis.com
Elina Lautamäki (FI/AT) has been living and working in Vienna since 2012. She studied pop/jazz singing as well as music education for several years in Finland. At the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna she obtained her Master’s degree in music and movement education. She is autodidact in dance and trained with Matan Levkowich, Andrea Nagl and Tina Rauter. Lautamäki works in the fields of music, dance and performance with different artists and groups. www.elinamaki.com
Fiona Hanley (IE) is a writer originally from Ireland. She is currently exploring connections between somatics and poetry; movement and writing. She is interested in a perspective that attempts to write-with the more-than-human-world. Recent work of hers canbe found in The Interpreter’s House, Howl: New Irish Writing, The Storms, Fearless, and Cassandra Voices. She holds a PhD in Cultural Studies from the University of Edinburgh and teaches writing in various contexts.
Flóra Boros (HU/AT) is a performer and choreographer based in Vienna. Currently she works on collaborations as well as on solo projects. Her works have been shown at Muffathalle, Theater Akzent and Schwere Reiter. In 2021 she completed her studies in contemporary dance at the Music and Arts University of Vienna. She received a scholarship for Music and Performing Arts from the Austrian Ministry of Culture (2022) and a scholarship for her thesis about game theory from the Cultural Department of Vienna (2021).
Giordana Pascucci (IT/AT) , dancer, choreographer and teacher, working in Italy and Austria in many different companies and for various choreographers. In Italy such as “I.D.” by N.Giavotto, “Everyday Company” by R. Garrison, “I Danzatori Scalzi” by P. Cerroni, Mario Piazza, Franco Senica, Murray Louis, Ian Sutton, Fabrizio Monteverde, Jean Marc Esposito. In Austria such as Elio Gervasi, Aurelia Staub, Monika Schmidt, Nigel Charnock, Chris Haring, Bert Gstettner, Ed Hauswirth, Michael Weger, Barbara Gassner, Georg Blaschke, Helene Weinzierl, Elisabeth Orlowsky, Lilly Axter, Miguel Angel Gaspar, Corinne Eckenstein, VRUM performingartcollective-SanjaTropp Früwald. In Germany with Hilde Kappes. She participated and collaborated in several painting and visual art exhibitions (G. Prestento, P.Tallis, R. Mambor, Tone Fink). From 1999 to 2010, together with Aurelia Staub, Alessandra Tirendi and Christophe Dumalin, she was in the core team of dance theater collective “Konnex” as a dancer, choreographer, trainer, director in various dance theater productions for children and teenagers. Giordana Pascucci is teaching in Rome, Naples, Linz, Graz and Vienna. In Summer 2021, she did the (age) dance course for “Format 60+”, Atelier for pensioners supported by the city of Vienna.
Laura Pudelek (DE/AT) Pudelek lives and works as a live and studio musician in Vienna. She studied cello with a focus on improvisation and new music at the Mainz University of Music and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (graduation with distinction) with Raphael Wallfisch and Wolfgang Aichinger. Her artistic field of activity ranges from classical, contemporary and improvised music to performance/dance and the genres of pop and noise. After numerous performances as cellist and bassist in the chamber pop band Dawa in Austria and abroad, she is part of the collective snim and active in the experimental scene in Vienna. Her constant interest in new sounds and styles always takes Laura into new territory and beyond her own borders. This has resulted in projects and performances with artists such as Nicholas Hoffman, Christian Konrad Schröder, Jaskaran Anand and Robert Steijn.
Marija Jociūtė (LT/AT) is an artist, working across installation, photography and sound performance. She studied Photography and Media Arts at Vilnius Academy of Arts. Her practice is research-focused and currently orbits around possibilities of experimental electronic sound performance.
Rotraud Kern (AT) was born in Austria. She lives and works in Vienna as a freelance dancer and choreographer since 2004. 2000-2003 contemporary dance training at SEAD in Salzburg. Since 2004 she has been working with Paul Wenninger/Kabinett ad Co. Own projects and collaborations at home and abroad, among others with Lisa Hinterreithner, Eva Musil, Daniel Zimmermann, Amanda Pina,TWof2, Clelia Colonna and Mirjam Klebel. She has worked among others for Saskia Hölbling, Lucie Strecker and Klaus Spieß, Anne Juren, Georg Blaschke and Theaterkombinat/ Claudia Bosse. She has been practising Tai Chi / San Feng for 11 years and is a pupil of Dr Ming Wong. She is a founder member of cowbirds, who deal with the heritage of traditional polyphonic song.
Yoh Morishita (JP/AT) is a performer, dancer, and choreographer based in Vienna. After she received a BA in architecture in Kyoto, Japan — she studied contemporary dance in Linz, Austria, and Antwerp, Belgium. As a performer, she has worked with several artists across Europe, as well as collaborating on various occasions as a choreographer and dancer in Vienna. www.yohmorishita.tumblr.com