Grow a Body, 2017
Performance with 2 performers, 30 min, spoken word, headphones, loudspeakers, 2 spot lights, 30 min

Performed with Gloria Höckner at:
KAI10 – Arthena Foundation, Düsseldorf, May 2nd, 2019
Festival of Future Nows, Sept. 15 & 17, 2017, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin
Centrum, Berlin, June 30, 2017
Exploratorio, Medellín (COL), Feb. 16, 2017 with Brenda I. Steinecke Soto

Photography: Eva Gjaltema

Grow a Body centers around a rhythmic, pulsating reading of a text based on (neuro-)scientific articles, slowly unfolding the underlying question: When is your body complete?

In this performance piece, feelings are carefully placed in conjunction: Starting from disidentifying with a body part, which might ultimately lead to self-amputating a ligament (‘Body Integrity Identity Disorder’), to dissociating from your body completely when in a traumatic situation (“This body is not me, it’s not mine”). A Japanese proverb intersects these two sensations by provocatively stating: “Cutting something into two reveals that it once was one”.

The performance then takes an unexpected turn into what it means to see a body and claim it, finally arriving at a sex symbol from a well-known music video to ask: When is a body “mine”?