Climate change is a deeply physical crisis—
a crisis of bodies and their relationships.

This exhibition explores a field still underrepresented in Austria: environmental performance practice and eco-somatics. It features works by international performance artists who have not previously exhibited in Graz.

On display are photographs, audio works, films, texts, and object installations—embedded in an innovative exhibition format that not only invites observation but calls for participation. The bodies of the visitors become part of the space, part of the question: How can new forms of ecological perception be developed?
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Eco-somatics and environmental dance practices address the growing disconnection between humans and ecology. By studying one’s own bodily systems through somatic practices, external micro- and macro-ecosystems become physically perceivable and tangible. In doing so, these practices decenter the human being from the prevailing anthropocentric worldview and integrate them into a dynamic, interdependent world. This can foster increased ecological empathy, environmental awareness, and agency—while making kinship with the more-than-human world perceptible.

Neuroscience, climate resilience studies, and the social sciences are increasingly concerned with the parallel alienation from both our own bodies and the external world.

The exhibition is based on the premise that global warming and species extinction are profoundly embodied phenomena—and that performance artists who make the connections between planetary bodies tangible make a critical contribution.

In addition to introducing a growing, interdisciplinary, and critical field at the intersection of dance, performance, somatic research, philosophy, art, and science, this exhibition offers a platform for presenting new, performance-based formats within the context of visual art exhibitions.

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The body is a doorway
---Sophie Strand ---

curated by: 

Minou Tsambika Polleros