reta Gauhe
Choreographer, Dancer, Producer, Researcher
After completing the first part of our Field Performance, I extend an invitation to embark on another journey together, where we can delve deeper into our shared experiences and conduct further research. To initiate the second part of this performance, please access the audio recording below by clicking on it. Feel free to begin this phase immediately after the first experience or at any other convenient time.
Music by Adrianne Lenker, "Mostly chimes" - we do not own the rights to this music
As a young artist in New York City I decided to go outside my studio to engage the public. Since then, bringing art as a tool into communities and opening doors to communication has been a constant force in my work. My work combines Visual Arts with Performance Art to create visual, audio, multimedia, interactive experiences. Every project has its contextual roots in the ideas of encounter and empowerment. Using art- based research, my projects create an open platform where different social and economic classes, cultures, generations, life models and opinions meet, creating the adjacent possible. The fourth wall is broken down for the audience and ways of thinking are transformed. I am always looking for ways to communicate. Through workshops, exhibitions, performances, teaching, developing and implementing projects for social change and my own studio research I am striving to connect people and enhance awareness. Recently, I have become interest in space. Being aware of space, breaking down space, sharing space, space as a meeting place and transcending space for a greater feeling of togetherness, of belonging. I was very excited to be a part of “BE(in)G touch”, of getting to work with such a creative group of people and having the chance once again to step outside my studio and into your homes.
"You guidance allowed me to connect with my felt sense of space. I felt touched by space and realised how we are constantly touching and moving through space. I also tried to brush the air, physically feel the space and at the same time loose myself in it. Thank you for this experience!"
"Touch.... Less in a physical sense of me touching something with my hands or body or me being touched physically but more in a sense of how you can touch people with your energy."
"I felt calm, spacious, expansive, energy/calm uplifted."
"The Field:
I was quickly drawn to the place where I do my Yoga and meditation. It is not that big, but it seems to open up to a much larger space. The outline marked with a thin black thread, when drawn, turned out to look like a kind of spiralshaped cocoon. I imagine to wear it on my head, as a kind of receiver."
"I am sitting in a small corner of my room. It is a place I usually sit in in order to think. This time I thought about space, I felt space- I felt connected to space and your voice."
"The performance and chosen words of the performer sparked contemplation about times when I felt I occupied a considerable amount of space and other instances when I felt I did not. It reminded me of moments I felt small and moments I felt grand. It made me think of times when my vibrational energy and aura were expansive, contrasting with times when they felt diminished and what my emotional and metal state was durning those periods.
Despite the performance revolving more around outer space, it directed my attention to my inner space. I became aware of the vastness within me, which left me feeling spacious, expansive, strong, and light.
The act of creating a space within the performance made me pause and reflect. Engaging in any activity consciously and with awareness has a calming effect on me."