Kin-spheres

In times of critical ecosocial crisis we cannot stay in our human oriented bubble but must widen the focus from egocentric to ecocentric. The perspective needs to shift towards us as part of nature and nature as part of us. In our project, Kin-spheres , we want to bring this connection closer and explore the states of resonance and connectedness through multisensorial somatic and ritualistic interventions. According to our individual and shared bodily knowledge, these practices can generate altered states of consciousness and a strong sense of communitas. The word somatics emphasizes the internal physical perception and experience of the living body. According to the founder of somatics, Thomas Hanna, the practice starts by focusing on the unknown to produce new experiential knowledge. Various somatic disciplines are becoming increasingly mainstream, even if their aim often remains narrowly focused on hedonistic wellbeing of the individual or increasing their productivity in working life. While there is nothing wrong with increasing the comfort of an individual, a broader perspective is needed to expand awareness from one's own body to also encompass the environment and groups of people outside the person’s immediate social sphere. To this end, the potential of artistic and somatic practices can be harnessed to realize the interrelatedness of all life forms and to allow scientifically rationalized and objectified approaches to integrate into actual life practices. Ecosomatics has been emerging out of the somatic field for decades and keeps on evolving through renowned artists and researchers, such as Anna Halprin, Satu Palokangas, and Olive Bieringa. Ecosomatics can be summarized as the integration of ecological questions into somatics. It engages with complex questions and challenging conversations with an embodied self. One of the central ideas of ecosomatics is that our wellbeing is dependent on the wellbeing of the environment. Sustainability, being one of the most important ecological principles in our days, features also a central theme in somatics, linking these two approaches closely. In this project, we combine artistic and somatic knowledge with the ecological research. We inquire how somatic and ritualistic interventions can create experiences of ecosocial inclusion. Our interest lies in a quality of experience that bridges the boundaries between humans and the more-than-human world. This, as a radical transformative momentum both on the individual and collective levels, can support the ways humans cohabit the planet Earth. In our project, we address the living body as a portal or tool to gain new insights or knowledge for the processes of understanding and finding solutions for the current ecosocial crisis while approaching the planet Earth as a living body. We consider conscious intra-actions as practices of social justice. We think that one important factor contributing to many local and global problems is alienation, both from our living body and from a living connection to another and to the more-than-human world. Through somatic practices we can increase the sense of connectedness and belonging. Kin-spheres is a long-term project working with and as natural systems through bodily practices, movement scores and embodied resonance. We work in a collaborative and multidisciplinary way to experience the resonance of all life for bringing human trauma and natural wounds closer to each other. Through our work, a new sense of empathy and new possibilities for transformation can arise. As we are of nature, we believe that the healing processes of our body and the body of planet Earth can be parallel and reciprocal. Research questions forming the basis for this work address the following themes: our possibilities to sense also the environment in addition to ourselves, our tight linkage to the environment and us as part of it, and communication with the environment. The questions we are working with are: our possibilities to sense also the environment in addition to ourselves, our tight linkage to the environment and us as part of it, and communication with the environment. The questions we are working with are: How can we address environmental questions through sensing? What do we know/sense without technical measuring instrumentation? What if we, instead, instrumentalize organic interlinkages that travel through all life? What if we operate with an experiential mindset in which the human perceptual field is inextricably connected to its multispecies environment? What if there is no “I and the natural world” but just “us”? What additional information can this bring to our understanding if we practice relating from such perceptual awareness? How do we practice, or come to be, in relation with the big body, the more-than-human world? How do we come to an equal level with that one “we” and exchange information from that equal valued resonance? How do we negotiate consent with the earth? How can art practices play their part in the process of change and transformation towards a living future? How can we address environmental questions through sensing? What do we know/sense without technical measuring instrumentation? What if we, instead, instrumentalize organic interlinkages that travel through all life? What if we operate with an experiential mindset in which the human perceptual field is inextricably connected to its multispecies environment? What if there is no “I and the natural world” but just “us”? What additional information can this bring to our understanding if we practice relating from such perceptual awareness? How do we practice, or come to be, in relation with the big body, the more-than-human world? How do we come to an equal level with that one “we” and exchange information from that equal valued resonance? How do we negotiate consent with the earth? How can art practices play their part in the process of change and transformation towards a living future? Within eLTER Conference, the work is presented through a durational performance installation. It approaches the thematics of the eLTER Conference from an artistic and embodied point of view, offering the conference participants a possibility to explore them experientially. The main purpose of the installation is to inquire into the emergent connections and intra-actions between different living organisms and environmental factors and to weave connections between scientific and embodied knowledge through bodily movement, sensing and relating. At the same time, it contributes to the emergence of a temporary community among the human and nonhuman bodies that are present in space. The installation is organised and performed by an interdisciplinary working group that consists of ecologically and somatically oriented artists, educators and researchers. The performance installation is open to all the participants of the conference. They can either witness it from a distance, move through the space or participate in some of the practices together with the performers.