To be covered with clay is an initiatory act that can be found in all primitive cultures. According to them, clay has a liberating and creative power. A body covered with clay enters into the world of the spirits, between the sculpture and the ghost: it is a transfigured body, in dialogue with the “beyond”. For us, this “beyond” is the depth of the performer’s soul. To cover oneself with clay is also paradoxically to wash oneself from an artificial and cultural world to finally make contact with one’s interiority. This blind work will amplify our sense of touch and proprioception. In the development of touch, time passes slowly and the psyche of the preformer enters into a form of singularity. Aristote stated that touch is the foundation of the soul. It is remarkable for someone to achieve liberation from individuality, surpass these boundaries of selfhood and identity, and embrace the possibilities of being. The disfigurement in this performance is a trigger for this process of appreciating life itself.
Step one: work alone
Step Two: work as a couple
Step three: work as a group
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#BiennaleDanza2021 | Day By Day 7
— La Biennale di Venezia (@la_Biennale) July 30, 2021
The days go by quickly, between the workshop of Olivier de @sagazan and that of @HerveKoubi. We have just the time to watch the sun as it falls into the Arsenale basin, before entering the Teatro alle Tese for #JosefNadj's show. pic.twitter.com/ujJ5yuqjkd