A Tuned Body: Somatics of Co-becoming
Performance by Madelyn Byrd, Lou Croff Blake, Scott Carver, Erbse, Julie C. Stamm
Documentation by Pablo Diserens
Introduction
A Tuned Body is both performance and methodology – the performed work is, in fact, a vessel for the methodology. In August 2024, we joined a DIY artist residency in Oranienburg for 10 days, throughout which we manifested the first iteration of the tuning practice and performance.
Grabowsee
The residency takes place in a derelict, rewilded tuberculosis sanatorium built in the late 1800s. Every summer, around 60 artists spend a week in pop-up studio spaces spread across the derelict campus. Our studio was on the top floor of what we called the ‘fundus building,’ with a bright balcony looking into the forest and 3-6 cm of dust and rubble which had to be cleared. Laying down large carpets to contain the stubborn remnant motes, and propping a giant board covered in butcher paper against one wall, we constructed a monastic but cozy home for the day. A spigot by the path below our window soundtracked a constant soft gurgle, and music from our neighbors wafted through our doorless frame. We spent the week collaborating within our new community, sharing all meals, and offering each other workshops and skill shares throughout the week. The residency culminated with a weekend-long exhibition and party, open to friends and family.
Squid
We, Madelyn and Lou, have been working creatively together for the past four years. New best friends for our chapter of being expats in Berlin in our thirties, life conspirators as we plan our joint future, and artistic collaborators in a range of experimental, play-based projects that defy genre. The best way to describe our shared practice is world-building. We read and share theory, weaving together our comprehension of reality (and parareality) into a foundation for queer ecotopia. We learn from each other in a process we affectionately visualize as climbing the ‘mountain of fluency’, winding our way through new unfamiliar terrain until we understand and gracefully navigate a giant earthy mass, the amalgam of interconnected knowledges and practices and skills. We will never fully know the entire mountain of fluency, our progress over its crags is non-linear, and the summit is both irrelevant and unattainable. Sharing the journey is the reward. As we climb around on our mountain of fluency, we move through areas of music and sound, poetry and storytelling, theory and sci-fi, movement and dress.
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Introduction
A Tuned Body is both performance and methodology – the performed work is, in fact, a vessel for the methodology. In August 2024, we joined a DIY artist residency in Oranienburg for 10 days, throughout which we manifested the first iteration of the tuning practice and performance.
Grabowsee
The residency takes place in a derelict, rewilded tuberculosis sanatorium built in the late 1800s. Every summer, around 60 artists spend a week in pop-up studio spaces spread across the derelict campus. Our studio was on the top floor of what we called the ‘fundus building,’ with a bright balcony looking into the forest and 3-6 cm of dust and rubble which had to be cleared. Laying down large carpets to contain the stubborn remnant motes, and propping a giant board covered in butcher paper against one wall, we constructed a monastic but cozy home for the day. A spigot by the path below our window soundtracked a constant soft gurgle, and music from our neighbors wafted through our doorless frame. We spent the week collaborating within our new community, sharing all meals, and offering each other workshops and skill shares throughout the week. The residency culminated with a weekend-long exhibition and party, open to friends and family.
Squid
We, Madelyn and Lou, have been working creatively together for the past four years. New best friends for our chapter of being expats in Berlin in our thirties, life conspirators as we plan our joint future, and artistic collaborators in a range of experimental, play-based projects that defy genre. The best way to describe our shared practice is world-building. We read and share theory, weaving together our comprehension of reality (and parareality) into a foundation for queer ecotopia. We learn from each other in a process we affectionately visualize as climbing the ‘mountain of fluency’, winding our way through new unfamiliar terrain until we understand and gracefully navigate a giant earthy mass, the amalgam of interconnected knowledges and practices and skills. We will never fully know the entire mountain of fluency, our progress over its crags is non-linear, and the summit is both irrelevant and unattainable. Sharing the journey is the reward. As we climb around on our mountain of fluency, we move through areas of music and sound, poetry and storytelling, theory and sci-fi, movement and dress.
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