A performance-based Research Presentation

With Emma Howes and Jao Moon
Tuesday, 13.08.2024

6PM Diaphanes Dresdener Str. 118, Berlin-Kreuzberg

Playground is an ongoing collaborative performance-based research that takes form in a series of workshops consisting of individual and group performances, reading groups, screenings, research and discussions. Iterations of the project have been developed and presented in Beirut at Ashkal Alwan (2018) and in Dubai at Alserkal Project Space (under the title Zwischenspiel, 2017) with local performers and non-performers. In this iteration of the research, Ali El-Darsa works with Berlin-based performers/artists: Emma Howes and Jao Moon.

Employing open-ended strategies of rehearsal, Playground examines movement as written and oral language and as visual and sonic translations. Performers are asked to contemplate their body as a vehicle devoid of affect; a body capable of performing mechanical movement; a body that goes through motion, allowing the conceptual framework set in place to define form and aesthetics. The research approaches the notion of communication through its means, methods, and media, whether oral, written, or coded; through the transmission of customary, historical, or contemporary stories; and through dialogue, with consideration for diversity of perspectives.