ELEVATOR BITCHES FLAUSEN RESIDENCE LOGBOOK

INTRODUCTION

We are a group of performance makers who have worked together in various constellations. We now come together to research the performance of violence and pain. Together we investigate the ways in which performance transforms the experience of pain and can resist structures of violence.

WHO WE ARE

Naomi Boyce (USA/DE) creates dramaturgies and translates.
Esther Vorwerk creates environments, performances, interactive installations, workshops, and texts.
Paola Pilnik (BRA) is a gender-bending, accordion-playing, theater maker and storyteller.
Elena Schmidt (A) beobachtet und erzählt. Auf der Bühne, Leinwand, Bildschirm, auf Papier und im Radio.
Sophia Hankings-Evans (DE) is an actress, performer, dancer and a bad Bitch. She works a lot with movements and the body. She is part of the Ballroom Community, her Ballroom name is SooFire.

THE BEGINNING

Wie beginnen wir? Womit?

What is the line between pain and pleasure?

What is the balance? Is it clear when it’s one and when it’s the other?

THE EXPLORATION OF THE TRANSFORMATION OF PAIN /// TRANSFORMATION IN PERFORMANCE

Wir sind dabei, den Schmerz loszulassen, zu transformieren.

But can we transform pain in order to let it go/ overcome it?
And how can pain itself be transformative?
What kinds performative aesthetics may emerge from this transformation? Wie können wir das auf der Bühne sichtbar machen?
What forms of performance can be a source of empowerment in transforming pain?

TRANSFORMATION OF VIOLENCE /// IN PERFORMANCE

Was ist unser kollektiver Schmerz?

Und wie können wir die Systeme, Strukturen herausschälen, die diesen Schmerz verursachen, verstärken, reproduzieren?
Was wäre ein Weg da raus?

DISKUTIEREN /// RAUM /// FRAGEN

We struggle to find the words that define us, especially words that are not a “non-something” (e.g.: non-cis, non-male, non-normative). We want to be inclusive and reflect the diversity within the group, but all terms we know seem niche and must come accompanied with an explanation or an asterisk.

Wir singen
wir schütteln uns
wir lesen
wir diskutieren
Mit Sprache 
versuchen zu verstehen
was Sprache nicht ausdrücken kann

In der ersten Woche haben wir uns den Raum zu eigen gemacht.
We set up our space, cleaned it, and began to collect our questions themes, ideas for workshops, and found links between these ideas to help structure the next weeks.

Wir haben so viele Fragen aufgeschrieben.
Und es werden immer mehr. Und weniger Antworten. 
We even asked: how do we ask questions?
How do we ask questions about the body?
Without reproducing/ inviting/ bringing about pain?
Perhaps by not speaking at all?

GEMEINSAMKEIT ///

Eine gemeinsame Erfahrung machen. Was heißt das eigentlich? Wenn wir gemeinsam in einem Raum sind, machen wir noch lange nicht eine gemeinsame Erfahrung. Wenn wir miteinander sprechen, sprechen wir nicht immer miteinander. Oft sprechen wir nur zu uns selbst. 

This week we had a feeling that the group is a Chimera or a Hydra – a creature with one body and multiple heads.

Maybe Chimera is more fitting, since the heads are so different and have different wants and needs…

So, we began a process of “de-hydrification,” meaning that we will try and work more autonomously.

TO SUM IT UP ///

I had physical pain all the
Week

My Mouth
My Hip
My Leg My Knee

(My Hard)
It disappeared.