Avhandling / Av_handling (Dissertation / Through_action)1 was articulated / manifested over the course of 72 hours, and situated itself within and proceeding from KTH R1 Experimental Performance Space, a decommissioned nuclear reactor hall 25 meters below ground on the campus of Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), between 27th and 29th of May 2016. The opponents and the examining committee where invited to become part for 42 hours; so was the audience—as agentially intra-acting components.
Here you find the INVITATION.
1 The English word dissertation translated to Swedish makes “avhandling.” When you break the word into its composite parts (“av” and “handling”), “av” can be translated to of, by, for, from, with. I chose to translate it to “through,” because I have pursued my research through the actions of my practice. “Handling” can be translated to action, document, or deed. I chose “action” to emphasize the continually unfurling and shifting nature of this research, and to echo Hannah Arendt, who maintained that actions have no end.
The 42 hours was divided in to 10 different chapters / parts, some which was dedicated to one specific “study”, and others that included an entanglement of praxes, formats, texts, methods, techniques, materials, and situations from different STUDIES, and others that approached the material in another manner.
The 42 hours started with a Preface and Introduction, continuing in to the first of eight Unfolding Encounters, Open Score. Fia Backström and Imri Sandström joind for Kapitel, Kaput, Kapital, Kapitulera, Capitulum: header of a text and a part of the arm, a collaboration among others (again) / Kapitel, Kaput, Kapital, Kapitulera, Capitulum: huvudpunkt av en text och en del av armen – ett samarbete bland annat (igen). Nine different Connect and Commit, Document, which allocated time to write down or in other ways share different accounts of various encounters and experiences that emerge within these time-space-language-matterings. For I am not quite sure. This is an arduous terrain (again) I had invited nine lives to each spend an hour in silence with me in KTH R1. On Sunday all lives came together. The 90 minutes’ lecture performance After, Rehearsal After #4 engage in my ongoing dialogue with the work of French-Italian artist Gina Pane (1939–1990). During the scripted public transport choreography, Nypåstigna / New Passengers with YES! Association / Föreningen JA!, we joined a rhombic trip on Stockholm Public Transport. During Time to Talk, two hours was allocated for some questions to be formulated and maybe asked. Stemming from a desire for a collective intimacy, I invited fourteen friends and colleagues to come together as a working team during Setting the Scene (again). The Epilogue took place in glade in front of School of Dance and Circus to be transformed in to a vegetarian barbeque feast.