Books & Bodies is laboratorium for exploring books and other documents in a contemporary dance context. 

Who are the people writing about art? Who are the people reading about art? Who are the people practicing art? What is practical knowledge? What is theoretical knowledge? What is embodied knowledge? Do we have a specialist in the room?  

During the 2nd week of the P.O.R.C.H. Improviastion / Training module, I bought my dance and art books into the studio, offering participants the possibility to (re)discover some major and not so major art documents of the past century in a playful atmosphere. Bodies and Books is a laboratory for trying out reading-, writing-, talking-, and moving practices in an open space situation. 

I would like to open up a practice for theoretical knowledge, help students to contextualize their artistic work, question the theory vs. the practice and vice versa, create friction, recycle historical information rather than be overwhelmed by it… 

At the end of the day everybody is sitting lonely with what he knows. So…

The last day of the lab participitants were invited to document the class. 

Video recording and editing: In Kyung Lee

Drawings: Annika

Photographies of book pages being read simultaneously: Sandra Wieser