The project "MONSTRES: Exploring Agency in Technologically Enhanced Researching Bodies" undertakes transdisciplinary exploration, that brings together performance, neuroscience and biopolitics. Inspired by Clarice Lispector’s novel "The Passion According to G.H.", it delves into the intersections of humanity, technology, and nature, exploring what it means to “become-animal” or “become-nature.” The narrative follows G.H., a character who encounters an insect and spirals into a profound existential crisis and transformation. Involving scientific and artistic researchers, including psychiatrist Dr. Lakshmi Waber and sound artist Daniel Zea, the project will experiment with neurobiological sensors, EEG devices, and immersive VR to transform biometrics into a soundscape, mirroring the performers’ inner states.

Drawing on Karen Barad's concept of "intra-action," MONSTRES challenges traditional subject-object boundaries, situating the body as an “earthly instrument.” Performers engage in altered states of consciousness—through hypnosis, meditation, and stress exploration—capturing sensitive data to guide audiovisual parameters. This pursuit of an "earthly embedded" performance sees the self as an entity inextricably linked to its environment, and reflects on the dominant Cartesian conception of art forms as conceived by an enlightened creator to a receptive audience that passes by the performer as a mere mediator.

MONSTRES will provide an overview of the historical and artistic uses of neurofeedback, such as Alvin Lucier's 'Music for Solo Performer', as well as the historical links between hypnosis and the arts. We will explore the impact of technology on human agency, and consider ways in which our identity, as reflected in our artistic manifestations, can be reimagined as fluid and interconnected within a nature-culture continuum.