Optokinesia
multi-disciplinary choreography by Yalda Younes (2023-open-ended)
La progression raisonnée du savoir est une mutilation indéfiniment reproduite.
— Jacques Rancière
— Jacques Rancière
What is the feeling of weightlessness that emerges from complete absorption? Is the loss of self the originary essence of home, or is it a state of homelessness? What makes anything or anyone, familiar or strange? What does our sense of belonging and safety thrive on?
Going down the rabbit hole, Optokinesia contemplates the perpetual fragmentation and domestication of both thought and land. Delving into the artist’s personal and interpersonal relationships with the human, vegetal, and mineral environments that shaped her upbringing, the work employs an autobiographical lens to reflect on the the growing schism between direct experience of the world, and inherited constructs of hierarchical knowledge.
Intimately weaving together memory, imprint and imagination, the choreographic patterns unravel an atemporal stream of ramblings intertwining the mental and ecological worlds, evoking wildness as the most reliable support system of care.
original audio-visual material all filmed and recorded in Chatine, North Lebanon choreography, image, text, zapateado, sound score Yalda Younes field and sound recording, buzuq, camera assistance Khyam Allami produced by Yalda Younes with the support of a grant from AFAC - Arab Funds for Culture research stages supported by Fonds Darstellende Künste #takecare program, Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa research stipendium many thanks to the mountains of Chatine, Khyam Allami, Rania Younes, Samar Younes, Mohamad Gawad, Salma Shamel, Setareh Shahbazi, Matthieu Banvillet, Jawad Chaaban and One Hertz Studio references Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, Jiddu Krishnamurti & David Bohm’s conversations, neurobiological research on trauma, and Layla Abdelrahim’s narratives on civilisation and wilderness.
The project currently exist in a browser-based, broadly accessible format. Here are some viewing notes:
- the page you will open will automatically load many images, so you want to be mindful of that with a low internet data package or slow internet;
- it is preferable to engage with the page in a dark space, to avoid light reflections on your screen;
- you may have a better experience on the bigger laptop screen, although it also works on a smartphone.
Going down the rabbit hole, Optokinesia contemplates the perpetual fragmentation and domestication of both thought and land. Delving into the artist’s personal and interpersonal relationships with the human, vegetal, and mineral environments that shaped her upbringing, the work employs an autobiographical lens to reflect on the the growing schism between direct experience of the world, and inherited constructs of hierarchical knowledge.
Intimately weaving together memory, imprint and imagination, the choreographic patterns unravel an atemporal stream of ramblings intertwining the mental and ecological worlds, evoking wildness as the most reliable support system of care.
original audio-visual material all filmed and recorded in Chatine, North Lebanon choreography, image, text, zapateado, sound score Yalda Younes field and sound recording, buzuq, camera assistance Khyam Allami produced by Yalda Younes with the support of a grant from AFAC - Arab Funds for Culture research stages supported by Fonds Darstellende Künste #takecare program, Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa research stipendium many thanks to the mountains of Chatine, Khyam Allami, Rania Younes, Samar Younes, Mohamad Gawad, Salma Shamel, Setareh Shahbazi, Matthieu Banvillet, Jawad Chaaban and One Hertz Studio references Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, Jiddu Krishnamurti & David Bohm’s conversations, neurobiological research on trauma, and Layla Abdelrahim’s narratives on civilisation and wilderness.
The project currently exist in a browser-based, broadly accessible format. Here are some viewing notes:
- the page you will open will automatically load many images, so you want to be mindful of that with a low internet data package or slow internet;
- it is preferable to engage with the page in a dark space, to avoid light reflections on your screen;
- you may have a better experience on the bigger laptop screen, although it also works on a smartphone.