We, the Tender Hotel team, began the process of building the February Grand re Union issue by talking about love, care, and discomfort and what our particular interests are there, about polyamory with the Earth and rocks, and about the particular challenges of gathering in virtual spaces. We talked about where our bodies are in all of that and about the internet/web cam interface as a portal, as a space between, where much is activated and also there are a lot of gaps to fall through.
I was interested in where we spend our time. In our stuff. My desk faces an altar of rocks and reeds and collected things for my current project. I hold them as grounding when I’m online, to stay with my body in space so I can better listen because I don’t like being online. I wanted to create an invitation to do that, that enlisted the particular physical and environmental experiences of people participating in Grand re Union, and pushed into the virtual space as a transitive space between each of our physical locales.
Prompted by Bruce Nauman’s Body Pressure, I thought, ah, a poster that is a score. Returning to Body Pressure, I was averse to how intensely one’s body is directed in that piece. It is really mechanical. I don’t want to tell people what to do with or how to move their bodies. I do want to offer direction – things that work for me – that is evocative and suggests ways to build relationships in the space that you are in, spaces that potentially people are in a lot these days and may even re-imagine that experience by flexing our attention differently.
And I want to see what comes of it. To toss it back to each other, to bear witness. Because it is an open framework and a way to shift and build attention – solo and collective. So I asked others to do it with me, friends, teachers, and collaborators, all dance and performance improvisation involved in some way. The range of responses is beautiful to see.