In modern society, human beings do not live according to the rhythm of natural organisms, but by controlling that dynamic in order to be more efficient and productive.
We have somehow lost touch with nature. We no longer adapt our activities to natural light and avoid being exposed to natural forces such as wind, water and soil. At the same time, there is an intensive use of natural areas in agriculture and construction.
Feelers questions the tension between domination and adaptation through a video performance in both intact and cultivated nature. The human agent becomes an undefined being, a lost organism in natural space, trying to reconnect with its surroundings. Moving with body attachments made of flexible material alters his interaction with the actual space. Although the thin wooden strips, cut from a massive oak beam, might be reminiscent of Rebecca Horn’s body extensions, they are not only used as performative objects or body
sculptures here.
Rather than being used as a mere prop, the flexible yet stable material is used to visualise the effects of pressure and resistance, showing the quality of connection with the surrounding environment. This changes the perception of the human body itself and its relationship to natural space.
At times, the extensions appear like self-acting insect feelers which switch roles with the body by turning it into a passive agent, solely able to react. At other times they seem like extensions of the body’s sensory organs, antennas that absorb vibrations and sensitize to the conditions of the environment.
