The hand, the rock,
your shoulder
and my mouth
photo: Carla Schleiffer
Concept, performance: Tyra Wigg
Premiered at Shedhalle Zürich June 4, 2022, in the high-intensity phase of the protozone “Zones of Kinship, Love & Playbour”curated by Lucie Tuma
Special thanks to Rafal Pierzynski and the DIVAS, Miriam Coretta Schulte, Lucie Tuma, Katharina Germo, and many more, for your reciprocity and input during this continuous process.
I collected this rock from the lake outside The Venue, to let it act as a medium, a steppingstone, between our bodies. I, the caregiver, treat you, the receiver, by inviting you to place your subjective corporeal perception inside the rock, and to absorb my caring hands and words. Sometimes, the rock emerges as a subject in itself, finding its own agency within the concrete space of The Venue. It calls for conversations with the other artworks, and maybe also with your hands.
The hand, the rock, your shoulder, and my mouth, is the development of a recycled extract from my choreographic piece Physical Empathy, co-produced by Weld, Stockholm and ROXY Birsfelden 2021-22. The rock is always a local performer, scouted in proximity to each venue that has invited the practice. By building links between ourselves and this dense, ancient object, we are also re-establishing our links with nature, as well as with the time before and after us.