posture as an instrument of inquiry
Violence: Recode is a choreographic public dialogue that uses physical posture as an instrument to examine systems of structural violence, such as racism, poverty and sexism.
This project is created in collaboration with communities around the world and adapts to the local questions and circumstances of structural violence.
Using drumming, images and physical action, Violence: Recode illuminates a question posed by anthropologist Paul Farmer:
Violence : Recode participants, Dresden, Germany. Photo Marion Borriss
“By what mechanisms do social forces ranging from poverty to racism become embodied as individual experience?”
action, rhythm and exchange
Violence: Recode participants are invited to engage with a series of simple physical postures that are placed in counterpoint to a changing series of descriptive picture titles. A group of musicians– drummers and percussionists, led by my musical partner Cliff Berrien–surround the participants and create a rhythmic framework that contains and drives the pace of the event.
The alignment and tension created between the physical postures, titles and music illustrates how individuals shape and are shaped by systems of structural violence. The choreographic strategies used in this project provide a way for participants to experience how these systems have literally become embodied and how we, as individuals, are constantly making the choice to either physically maintain or dismantle these damaging structures.
getting involved
If you are interested in bringing Violence: Recode to your community, getting involved with a Violence: Recode project near you, or supporting the project in another way, please be in touch.
BOOK A PUBLIC DIALOGUE OR LEARN MORE
If you are interested in bringing Violence: Recode to your community, getting involved with a Violence: Recode project near you, or supporting the project in another way, please be in touch.
Violence: Recode partners
Goethe: Institute, Boston
The Association Of Conflict Resolution, USA
New York University, The Center For Ballet And The Arts NYC, USA
Roehampton University, London England
Zentralwerk, Dresden, Germany
The Academy For Visual Arts, Frankfurt, Germany.
Lyndon State College, Lyndonville, Vermont, USA
Be Heard. World, Boston, USA
Now And There, Boston, USA
credits:
Violence: Recode has been funded In Part by the German Federal Cultural Foundation (Kulturstiftung des Bundes), Lyndon State College, and The Academy of Visual Arts in Frankfurt.
Top photo: Participants in a Violence : Recode event in Lyndonville, Vermont, USA. Photo: Josiah Schlee