The further development of The Brainless Dancer, exploring female bodies, the gaze, and power through Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed, where the audience becomes co-actors. The work focuses on how invisible forces—such as social pressure, distance and proximity, and attention—affect bodies and identities, and how we continuously influence one another within shared space.

Sensors track the movements of the audience, and their presence activates valves, air pumps, and tubes that inflate and deform the performer’s costume in real time. The body expands, shifts, and loses its natural proportions, becoming a site of continuous transformation. Towards the end, the audience is asked to collectively end the performance by “freeing” the performer. The outcomes vary each time.

This version of the performance is accompanied by a background sound environment designed by Cosmo Schüppel, which adds an oppressive atmospheric layer and reinforces the sense of tension and vulnerability.

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Of Webs, Patterns, and Other Beings
10 November 2023

‍Photos: Peechana Chayochaichana
Videos: Isabella Lee Arturo, Eirini Kokkinidou, Dahye Seo
Funded by: Kreativfonds Nachwuchs 2023, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar

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