Intercultural workshop series: The phenomenon of structures
Idea: Exploring structures through the performing arts
The series of workshops organized by Interaction Leipzig e.V. offered participants a unique opportunity to look at the phenomenon of structures from a different perspective – using performing arts methods. Four international artists led the workshops, which focused on performance, clowning, object-based theater and dance.
Aim of the project:
The aim was to create an inclusive and artistic platform where people with and without migration experience could explore social contexts and personal stories. The focus was on creating a safe space for bold experiments.
Realization: 4 workshops – 4 artists – 4 themes
The workshop series analyzed macrostructures (cultural, economic, political) and microstructures (self-image, private life, thoughts). The workshops looked at the interaction of structures, the distribution of privileges and the effects on discrimination and marginalization.
The workshops:
- Re-configurations: Bringing inner patterns into motion (01.10.2023):
Exploring structures through performative methods with Pedro Henrique Risse. - Clownery (07.10. & 08.10.2023):
Humorous exploration of structures with Daniela Delphine Döring. - Object-based theater (28.10. & 29.10.2023):
Discovering the materiality of structures with Giovanna di Filippo Vargas - Art & Psychology (25.11. & 26.11.2023):
Exploring the structures of life and dreams with Daniela Ciccolini.
Illustration and documentation
About the workshops:
1. re-configurations: Setting inner patterns in motion
The “Re-con-figurations” workshop offers the opportunity to explore reactive patterns that have manifested themselves in the course of personal history. These patterns are analyzed mainly through movement, but also through drawing and writing.
Specific methods are used to translate the inner patterns into movements and thus create individual movement scores. These are examined for critical moments in order to make adjustments and thus dissolve the old and invite the new. Micro-experiences and micro-movements are used as material to understand their influence on a macro level. The approach allows a group to share intimate material without making the content of the experience explicit.
Previous knowledge is not required. The workshop is aimed at anyone who wants to venture into unexplored territory and experiment with an unconventional artistic approach.
About Pedro
Pedro Henrique Risse, who grew up in Brazil and has lived in Germany for ten years, teaches performance art at the University of Erfurt. His practices invite participants to enter a space of unlearning and re-membering.
2. clowning: humorous exploration of structures
The workshop “Clowning – Exploring the world, but in a funny way” explores human emotions in a clownish way. The world is viewed from a new perspective in a playful, unprejudiced and curious way. The focus here is on enabling participants to come into contact with each other regardless of language, background or views.
The workshop not only covers the inner structures of feelings, but also explores the outer structures of the environment, the space and later the world. The project invites you to take part in both workshops to embark on a different and exciting journey of emotions, costumes, masks and movements.
About Daniela Delphine Döring
Daniela Delphine Döring, born in Leipzig in 1965, has various professional qualifications. Since 2009, she has regularly participated in clowning and also explored the fields of pantomime, serious theater and improvisational theater. It teaches skills from these different areas.
3. object-based theater: discovering the materiality of structures
The 3rd workshop focuses on the creative exploration of objects and their meaning. The focus is on how objects in our everyday lives often go unnoticed and yet could tell a deeper, perhaps unknown story. These objects can have a variety of meanings in our personal or socio-cultural history.
Objects as storytellers
The workshop explores how objects can put labels on our history, be symbols of our family’s profession or tell visitors something about our beliefs. Objects can also function as documents that carry the memory of a community or a collective. Participants are encouraged to rediscover objects, listen to their stories and understand their value as “documents”. At the same time, colonial thinking is to be overcome by ascribing objects a new status as containers or contents of magical matter.
From consumer object to carrier of meaning
In this two-day workshop, which is understood as a “laboratory for the exploration of object, space and bodies”, the focus is on questions such as: How can the object become a full-time play partner? How can we lend our body to the object or vice versa? How can the object define our physicality?
About Giovanna di Filippo Vargas
Giovanna di Filippo Vargas, born in 1989 in Bogotá, Colombia, is a versatile artist. She studied anthropology in Paris and obtained a research master’s degree in gender studies. Her theater journey began in Paris, where she appeared in contemporary Russian plays. She later studied contemporary puppetry at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart. After a year in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, she now lives in Leipzig and is involved in artistic and socio-cultural projects.
4. art & psychology: exploring the structures of life and dreams
Using improvisational theater and the art of movement, participants explore their inner structures and their effects. The participants take a playful look at their psyche, comparing it with a house that has certain architecture. Through psychology and creative perception exercises, they explore their inner structures, reflect on consciousness and subconsciousness and deal with dreams.
The workshop is suitable for anyone who is looking for new impulses, is curious and enjoys meeting people and movement.
About Daniela Ciccolini
Daniela Ciccolini is a multidisciplinary performer who studied dance and theater at the University of the Arts in Buenos Aires. On her travels she has practiced various body techniques such as contact improvisation, acrobatics, butoh and expressive dance worldwide. Daniela has been working in the social sector for over 10 years and, as a psychologist and dancer, explores the interfaces of movement – always where body and mind meet.
