Adopting the gestures of others or how to invent a bodily language
Summary
By using some principles of the behavioral mapping method (from the environmental psychology field), this presentation departed from a series of observations made at the public square Götaplatsen in the city center of Gothenburg. A key focus of these observations was on the one hand, to map, depict and identify some of the behavioral patterns of the square and its passersby’s. On the other, it was used for looking specifically at the performative potentialities of this site by engaging the body and creating new meanings or functions for it. How can the everyday quality of movements and gestures be used for exploring a bodily and performative language that expands the ways in which a site-specific practice is conducted? was a central question in this regard. For this reason, Götaplatsen served not only as a framework for adopting different gestures, movements and/or rhythms, but it also opened up the possibility of enacting a new narrative that emerged beyond the usual confines of the square.
Type of work
Performance-Lecture
Published in
Departures, deviations and elsewheres/ NSU Winter Symposium, Vilnius, Lithuania
Link to web site
https://en.ehu.lt/
Date
2019-03-09Creator
Fari, Nathalie S.
Keywords
site-specific practice
performativity
body mapping
Language
eng