Spectral (2020)

Humans are symbiotic beings. We carry ten times as many bacteria inside us as our own cells, and some of us also host various parasites, fungi or viruses. Such, we can see ourselves as clusters of different life forms as much as individuals. We are always also in contact with various other things that work on us. Gravity, the ground we stand on, the air that passes through our lungs and the water that we drink constantly shape us, even if on a micro level.

In Western thinking it is common to separate things/matter from living beings. This tendency prevents us from recognizing the vitality of matter, the capacity of things (Jane Bennett). But if the distinction between life and non-life collapses, can we become part of the world in a new way? We are inspired by philosopher Timothy Morton, who says that ecological thinking means to see all beings (in the broadest sense) as spectral and to think of coexistence as something radically non- anthropocentric.

“(…) When the life/non-life binary is collapsed and the human/non-human is relaxed, all kinds of spectral creatures start to be seen, nightmarish beings that scuttle about. They are not categorizable. Yet they exist. They look like nightmare beings because of the extreme pressure they exert on existing frames of reference, existing categorical boxes.”
(Timothy Morton, Spectral Life)

Spectral takes shape as a choreographic speculation on the coexistence of people, spaces, sound waves, adrenaline, homemade body parts, creepers, make-up, carpets, lamps, tentacles, smells, hair, plastic bags and endless mattress covers. Living and non-living bodies merge to form new, expanded organisms that all contribute to the performances’ overarching ecosystem; a slowly moving landscape.

This emerging performative ecosystem is inspired by molluscs, tardigrades, the sci- fi literature of Nnedi Okarofors, jungles, damp basements, the Annihilation alien, garbage dumps, visual artist Pierre Huyghe, kidney stones, Mandelbrot fractals and much more.