Choreographing Touch – Conversations Vera Tussing and Sebastian Kann

Rebecca Goodine and Enric Granzotto Llagostera are game designers making work from a critical perspective. In this episode, Seb and Vera talk to them about ‘Roots’, a game object which asks people to manipulate unseen ‘roots’ in order to tend to an onscreen garden. Thinking through the relation between bodies and technologies, we touch upon play as a site of reflection, the production of sociality by way of interaction with objects, and the politics of first-person shooters.

This conversation gives an insight into Astrit Ismaili’s extensive artistic oeuvre. The three way conversation between Astrit, Seb Kann & Vera Tussing focuses on: collectivity, voice work, touch as a complex phenomena, body extensions and mediation, blurring lines between fiction and realities, the role of the popstar, and queerness as a cosmic force. We also hear about the Pregnant Boy’s difficult integration among earthlings and the inspiring synchronicities of line-dancing at Dutch old-age homes.

This podcast conversation takes the encounter with Salvas Sanchis’ movement scores as a starting point. Vera Tussing and Sebastian Kann talk with Salva about the role of touch in generating movement, the notion of dancing as thinking, and improvisation as a practice both within and outside the context of choreographic composition. We also get to hear about Salva’s earliest inspirations (Travolta!) as well as his specific understandings of technique and pedagogy developed over the course of more than 20-years in the field.

In this episode, Seb and Vera talk to London-based choreographer Malik Nashad Sharpe about affect as a choreographic material, making work from a perspective of marginalization, and violence as a persistent and ubiquitous reality. We also get into ‘choreographic candy’, imaginary objects, and the thrill of surprise.

For this episode we talk with Sarah van Lamsweerde and Alicia Hoost about Sarah’s SIGHTLESS SEEING series, in which Alicia has been a collaborator and a performer. How can we expand our instruments to experience art beyond the predominant visual perspective? In ‘SIGHTLESS SEEING #4 / Acquisitions’ at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Alicia Hoost (heritage expert) guides the audience through the exhibition. You will hear about Alicia’s role as a guide as well as Sarah’s journey with these and other creations.

*For this episode, have a handheld mirror ready to participate in Sarah’s score