One is Always a Plural: moving together over distance, Yael Davids Artistic Ecologies, New Compasses and Tools
Yael Davids has been training in the Feldenkrais Method for the past five years. She uses the method as a research device for comprehending the inner workings of structures and prevailing tendencies — bodily, institutionally, artistically. In her work she focuses on learning conditions and duties of care, and addresses a range of questions such as: How can we reform the prevailing trope of learning being a competitive, mentally demanding experience? How can we integrate other learning processes, beyond the common optic experience? How can the relationship between student and teacher be more democratic? How can we support the practice of self-reflection and individual interpretation? How can we think differently about limitation? Yael will present a Zoom workshop in which a somatic analysis of artworks constitutes the foundation for a Feldenkrais lesson. Drawing on the workshops she recently presented at the Van Abbemuseum, Yael invited each member of the curatorial team to select a work of art that, amidst the conditions of the pandemic, has acquired particular magnetism for them — a charged significance.
During the session itself, please mute yourself so as to limit background noises. Feel free to unmute yourself if you need to ask a question. You can ask a question at any time. In order to best see your movements, Yael recommends to wear lighter coloured clothing if you’re lying on a dark surface. Equipment: mat or blanket (optional), pillow (optional) comfy, warm and non-restrictive clothes.
If you have any question, feel free to contact us on 93 481 33 68 or by email at macba [at] macba [dot] cat
This constellation of artistic materials presents a unified yet multifaceted ‘body', which Yael examines for commonalities, harmonies and overlaps, but also points of tension, contrast and resistance. Through this close study of the selected artworks — as individual yet connected materials — Yael seeks to determine how to best listen to and support this ‘body’. Yael will study the works selected and will develop a corresponding Feldenkrais lesson. The workshop invites participants to lie on the floor in the comfort of their own home and be guided through a series of gentle movements and bodily orientations. Each participant integrates and experiences the structural qualities of the artworks within their own body. No former familiarity with the Feldenkrais Method is needed, and the workshop is open to all levels of physical mobility. It is important that you attend with your video ON and in a well-lit space. This will help Yael guide the lesson.
Yael Davids examines the capacities in which the body operates as a documentary vessel. She studies how collective heritage and socially charged narratives become intertwined with the individual’s biography and sensibilities, amounting to an experiencing of the concrete world that is defined by a unique finitude.
