Between control and uncertainty by Marta Wörner Sarabia

"Between control and uncertainty" is a practice-led research that combines the kinetic study of the body as a structure and the implementation of media and expanded choreography tools to de-pattern the conventional relationship between body and space in performative environments. Moreover, on a meta-level, the investigation reflects on the tension between control and uncertainty in the act of research itself. With the firm belief that the body has inherent philosophical and epistemological knowledge which can be activated by experiencing and observing movement, I embraced the challenge to name and contextualize that knowledge. This inquiry started from my fascination for the kinetics of the body and its ability to reorganize itself in comparison with other micro and macro structures that do not move that way, such a, for example, the microstructures of materials like metal, rocks or the macrostructures built by the geography of the city and the Port of Rotterdam. The interdisciplinary research addresses the dichotomy structure-destructure and its application and affections to the body. In this sense, the research proposes a tool for de-patterning the habitual relationship between the body of the performer and the external space and offers to the audience a door for de-patterning their relationship with performative spaces. The research has been framed under the inspirational umbrella of the idea of performing the Deleuzian concept of “becoming”, (deriving from the Latin verb “devenire” which means “coming down, falling in, arriving to”). The physical inquiry is focused on the action of “falling in”, "devenire". The exploration led to an articulated and defined set of physical and interdisciplinary exercises that are the core of the dance practice ‘falling in’. In concordance with the practice, the findings of this research can be seen as ways of controlling and ways of facilitating, allowing, provoking uncertainty within the choreographic practice-led research frame. This research artistically materialized in the performance Falling in. Notes on body space and matter premiered in 2019.

The richness that the interdisciplinary approach has offered to this research relies again on the framed embracement of the unknow as a tool for re-visiting and re-formulating the becoming research question from different perspectives.

For that matter, I situated myself as a researcher at the limit of my ignorance that is as well the limit of my knowledge. In this sense, the choreographic research has been broadened from the perspectives that I found at that limit, in where disciplines outside of the choreographic field offered the research an interesting cross over approaches. Those alternative approaches have entered into the research by the door created by the common points of interest between research fields. The alternative perspectives have been facilitated by experts in the fields outside my knowledge, creating a space in between control and uncertainty in which the research could grow.

As two examples of these created spaces, I would like to name the interactions that this research had with the technology field and the visual art field.

The interaction with the media and technology research field.

Failure, playfulness, humour and researching tools within an interdisciplinary collective.

On the one hand, being aware of the importance of the use of media and technology and its relation to the body in the research, I placed my research close to Keez Duyves, technology researcher, inventor and director of the company of Media and Performing arts PIPS:Lab. To be able to embrace the influence and knowledge of the media and technology field in the research, I did a three weeks internship at the studio of the company PIPS:Lab where I observed the research methods and approaches of the PIPS:Lab collective. Moreover, I investigated the tools they were applying for their researches within an interdisciplinary collective context and the synergies created with other artists and researches in the studio space. In this internship, I also observed the particular approach of Keez Duyves to the research practice. Later, Keez Duyves became an active stakeholder and external eye of the creation process. His contribution to the research relies on the points of connection we found between the research practice of both disciplines, which are failure, playfulness and humour. Keez Duyves also reflected along with me about the relation between the use of media and the performative space and the importance of the aesthetic of the technology tools on stage for the resulting choreographic piece Falling in, notes on body space and matter.

For detailed information about this internship and the feedback as an external eye of Keez Duyves in relation to the piece, one can visit this link.

The implementation of the perspective of a visual artist.

Finding bridges to access a common ground.

On the other hand, taking into account the informative and reflective importance in the research of the images, I actively shared my research with Hans Schuttenbeld, a visual artist that moves around the boundaries between the academic art research, the conventional visual art and the street art fields. Hans Schuttenbeld is an expert within the calligraphy (type design) and abstract drawing fields and he is actively carrying out parallel artistic researches in both fields, individually and through a collaboration with the collective he makes part of, “High on type collective”. The space created by the action of sharing my research with him allowed me to reflect on the transposition of the philosophical questions and ideas gathered in this research to other art fields and the possible impact of this research on them. Moreover, I found in this interaction an opportunity to find an appropriate mode of dissemination of this research that resulted in an interactive exposition format that offers practical exercises. For accessing audio and audiovisual documentation of the experience of sharing my research with Hans, one can click this link.

In conclusion, the alternative perspectives in the research have been brought by experts in fields of knowledge that while being necessarily related to the research were outside of my knowledge domain. These interactions brought insights related to the relevance of the research by the identification of common paths and interests between research fields, as wells as it brought new uncertain spaces from where to look closely at the same matter.

Interdisciplinarity and the value of uncertainity.

Alternative perspectives in the research.

Tip

Tip