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Synesthetic Embodiment: Exploring Movement, Drawing and Touch [WORKSHOP]


Eik Leknesund Elnes, Stockholm University of the Arts

 

 

In this workshop, participants will embark on a journey of synesthetic exploration, delving into the interconnected realms of movement, drawing and touch. The objective is to uncover how touch transcend its conventional boundaries, becoming a catalyst for radical haptic expression in both movement and drawing. Central to the investigation is the concept of “flow”-states, where tactile sensations seamlessly translate into both visual and choreographic material in real-time, fostering a synesthetic connection between the drawing hand, the moving body, and the sensory nervous system.

 

The method draws upon insights from haptic perception and proprioception, elucidating the body’s remarkable ability to synthesize sensory input and output. We explore the neurological underpinnings of this process, shedding light on the trainable nature of haptic perception. Through hands-on exercises and embodied practices, participants will engage in different drawing and movement exercises, tapping into the body’s inherent capacity to intertwine sensory modalities and understand abstract expressions and composition in visual and somatic work.

 

The material builds on an artistic exploration on the act of touch and its weight as a radical action within queer spaces, touch can be soft, romantic, sexual, but also violent and dangerous. First explored in the durational dance performance “Are Normal Sane People Real” (Bora Bora, Denmark, 2016), the practice sought to give moments of sensory interactions between two people a visual debris, slowly over time leaving an abstract, but at times recognizable, drawn map of human interaction. The approach has later been used in educational settings at the National Gallery of Denmark to offer students different ways of seeing, and a vocabulary to talk about, abstract geometric art, using sensory experiences, drawing and dance.

 

Led by Eik, a queer artist, and experienced practitioner with a background in contemporary dance, circus and art pedagogics, the practice draws on insights on artistic process, dialogue based practices and intersensory art experiences. Part of an ongoing current research into “the theatre of the nerves”, which explores the nervous system as a storytelling organ and the ways in which the body makes sense of different lived impressions and expressions, and the ways in which the body’s sensemaking isn’t always rational. The material “insists on slowness”, and through developing a somatic awareness the drawn line’s potential to express sensory experiences will broaden. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between visual and tactile experiences and explore how sensory experiences can be translated into abstract drawing, free from figurative representation, but full of haptic potential. Through interactive activities and dialogue the practice aim to inspire creativity, foster embodied awareness, and ignite new perspectives on the possibilities of synesthetic exploration in drawing.

 

Keywords: Synesthesia, Movement, Touch, Flow State, Slowness


Biography
Eik Leknesund Elnes is a Norwegian Dancer and Art Pedagogue interested in the collision field between dance and visual art practices. Eik has worked for many years as an Art Conveyor and Education Designer at The National Gallery of Denmark and at The Museum for Artistic Process and Public Art at Lund University in Sweden. Eik is a graduate in Dance and Visual Art from the University of Brighton, Conceptual Performing Arts from the Theatre Academy of Malmö and is currently pursuing a master’s in dance education at Stockholm University of the Arts.