| How
do you make yourself a
dancing Body without Organs |
| London, november 1998: creation of A Multiplicity Machine, instant event for .x. participants |
| description
stations day
program notes
remarks of particpants
In the machine there are 8-10 'stations',
each with their own territory.
Before starting off you will get
a personal number.
For the transitions from one station
to another you can choose for:
There are two special stations: the
watch desk and the rest station.
There two special rules concerning
these stations:
At each station you have the possibility to skip the task and to work on 'doing nothing'. There is a programmer (maybe 2) who sometimes will change the program of specific parts of the machine which includes the participants. We aim at a duration for the machine of 90 minutes non stop. Consider yourself as a stand-alone particle in the machine, being together with others does not directly influence your work Physical contact is rare and not sought for. No talking with each other, also not at the watch desk. Be part of the machine, enjoy it
and let it not overwhelm you. When you are lost while working: just stop
and start again.
Rough schedule for the day: 11.30 foreword 11.35 warm-up 11.45 introduction of some elements 12.30 manual of the machine 13.00 start of the machine 15.00 talking about Tasks for the different stations At each station there is a choice to 'DO NOTHING' station 1: BECOME * the wooden floor you are working on * yourself at the age of 10 * half the dog of your neighbor * a velvet curtain during a november orage * grace jones on bbc 1
* go with one wooden leg and one rubber leg to waterloo station * repeat points-work in different body positions * let an unsympathetic family member travel trough your body * veins, pubic bone and breath * have simultaneously 2 different
musics in two arms
B. 10 mm per second
station 4: COPY * parts of someone nearest to
you at the next station without him/her noticing
station 6: do the complete opposite of what you did in the last working period
station 7: MISCELLANEOUS * do strenuous physical exercises in a vary small space * move with a speed of 10 cm per second; focus on your joints * work with 3 quick points
watch the machine determine your next station number
by throwing 1 or 2 dice
station 9: REST STATION rest here, do not watch determine your next station number by throwing a dice A MULTIPLICITY MACHINE One Day Event with 10 extra participants Warm-up (rolf): going down the fire escape stairs and up by Chisenhale’s entrance for 10 minutes. Introduction of some elements of the machine. (frank) A. work on isolating 4 or 5 points in the body(joints), indicating them by very minimal ongoing movement, barely visible to the onlooker. How to differentiate or fragment body parts and consciousness? B. Continue with A in different body positions. Then introduce upon that simple/basic body movements. How do the 4 points influence the scope or vice-versa. C. (rolf) Work on 'doing nothing'. Minimalize bodily activities, also breathing, eye movements etc. Make your senses available to the max; you hear, smell, taste, feel everything WITHOUT reacting, interpreting, judging. .The Machine (90 minutes) .Discussion In our eyes the One Day Event worked very well in the sense that different people within 1 hour took in enough information to sustain them together throughout a 90 minutes dance event (without 'external' audience). Suggestions came up to randomize or differentiate the (use of the) given space(s), and to look into possibilities of building into the machine self-assessing and self-regulating qualities so that what happens inside the machine would further influence its continuation. In the circulation system number one got the least visits (because of the lesser chance). It seemed to be quite intensive, the overall energy dropped after a while and did not raise again. People seemed to have their own tempo -> there were no instructions for energy or speed, and they themselves stopped varying. In the discussion afterwards two attitudes came forward: one that felt the rules as a framework to hang on, not having to decide about certain things. Another attitude was to apply the rules to one's convenience. But actually one participant remarked that after a while she noticed to arrive at easy and habitual performing. Changing back to following the rules, especially when she had to repeat tasks, turned out to be more interesting and challenging. About space:
About relating: some people said
they were hindered by the absence of direct contact and communication during
the machine.
In the introduction of the machine it must be made more clear to the participants that the 'limitations' created by the rules are a highly interesting part of what is happening, inside as well as outside. Remarks from discussion with project participants (day after): It felt safe to work in it. No questions about self-confidence. Was there a concept behind this machine? There was no circular territory defined; would that have had another influence? What is IN a territory also defines the space. Now there was only diversity. That could change when the tasks at a station have or create some unity. It was difficult to change from the mostly static atmosphere in a task to moving to another area. Some people made a clear choice in this. E.g. to take one element into the transition till the next task started. An interesting concept could be to always take an element INTO the next task. An individual strategy / concept throughout the duration of the machine could be given or self created. One person seemed to work on this by 'doing nothing' for the first half hour and then slowly started to move with the tasks. It would be nice to have one frenzy station. One participant had problems with
the 5 minutes periods. It inhibited her to go deep into a task, thus generating
(for her) a conflict between multiplicity and intensity.
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