ABOUT THIS SITE >>> This site is a blog as well as an archive. It gives visibility to the continues working of radical_hope, its current move to radical_house, the research project Distraction As Discipline (2016 - 2019) and the process of OTΗOE - works for passers-by, a working trajectory (2013 and 2014).
radical_house is a long term project and has a threefold nature: it presents a physical place, a framework and a logic. When in 2013 teaching and mentoring became an extension of Langsdorf's artistic practices now radical_house stems from her pedagogical experience where 'being in dialogue' with others is her main principle.
Distraction As Discipline is
an investigation into enactivist principles in art and education
(research trajectory at KASK School
of Arts Ghent 2016-19). It considers the potential of performance art and
pedagogy in general, in resisting the current and massive
desubjectivation, by critically reclaiming both, attention for the moment and participation in a process.
OTΗOE - works for passers-by was the development of radical_hope's artistic practice in the city and questioned how and by whom this practice (and its bodily, social and economical aspects) is perceived. The title refers to the public of a city and to how we encounter and register most things on our way through the city: Out of The Corner of Our Eyes. OTΗOE.
From 6 to 10 January Helena Dietrich and Heike Langsdorf work with dramaturge Sébastien Hendrickx on the further development of SWTB 24/7.
They focus on 8 images (in progress), which will form the basis for a 24 hour choreography. During the open atelier week (10 - 15 february) a series of photographs will be taken and further developped as the score of SWTB, serving executors as well as onlookers to 'get into their bodies'.
SITTING with the body
LYING with the body
STANDING with the body
WALKING with the body
MAKING with the body
SEEING with the body
DANCING with the body
SPEAKING with the body
These images of SWTB were processed during short public retreats of 1 to 2 weeks, running through one year, dedicated to researching (artistic) practice: in the beginning there was a concrete yoga practice, to be understood and deepened under the guidance of Renée Copraij. This caused another research of other bodily, esoteric, religious - socalled - sacred practices, which all compass an ideal connection between thought and action. By exposing the researching body to a passing-by public, there was a continuous and immediate reality check: which of the bodie's activities are and remain being inviting to look at, and which are causing repulsion, are provocating, which remain 'invisible' because of them not drawing attention.
In a second (the current) phase we are selecting movement material that can be composed into photographic images, which carry the invitation to put ones own body in a specific posture (and related action) and by doing this to literally discover new perspectives. The invitation has to function visually and wants to by-pass verbal as well as written explainations and instruction for passers-by and visitors. Like prayer-cards they refer to a threedimensional original image, which in this case are the 8 embodied SWTB images and variations on them, executed throughout the day by the performers.