exercises

I will, as a performance artist, researcher, pedagogue and family person, perform one exercise each day for a year, starting 4th of October 2017. These exercises can be looked upon in multiple ways; as small performances, as a way to develop a repertoire of exercises for a performance pedagogue or as acts of interventions in my daily life. By doing this, I want to explore the potential of the exercise in performance art and performance art education.

Exercise 1 – Wednesday 4th of October 2017 “Exercise on Time”

Exercise on Time by Harriet Rabe from the “Performance Artist´s Workbook” (ed. Pilvi Porkola)

I was enthusiastic when I saw on Facebook that the new book “Performance Artist´s Workbook” was just published and I decided to do my first exercise from there. I started to perform the exercise at around 3:30 pm at my new office/studio. In a way it worked as an exercise to make the workspace more mine. First I forgot to write with my left hand and I started all over. Writing with my left hand make me feel I can write and flushing the score in the toilet, made me need to concentrate more – so I would not forget my tasks. So it made me concentrate more. It was funny to do the exercise kind of secretly, especially since the workspace has glass walls, so anytime people could pass by and see me performing the scores.

Exercise 2 – Thursday 5th of October 2017 “Open a discussion about normalcy”

Exercise from the book “100 Exercises for a Choreographer and Other Survivors” by Efva Lilja

In a rental car with the whole family. Kids sleeping in the back.

You: My friend has lived here in the forest as long as I know him

Me: Is he satisfied living outside the normative?

You: He would never be satisfied with anything else.

Me: Are we living a normal life?

………………….

Exercise 3 – Friday 6th of October 2017 “Imbalance. Turn around fast for one minute before you walk. Repeat often.”

“Imbalance. Turn fast around for one minute before you start walking. Repeat this often.”
The exercise is from my performance installation at the “Ka No” – festival in October 2017.

​Dizzyness. I cannot walk afterwards. Sitting down. Repeating. Feeling of puking. I cannot stand afterwards. Not repeating anymore. The kids did the exercise for me the rest of the day.

Exercise 4 – Saturday 7th of October 2017 “Which elements can be grouped?”

Card from Oblique Strategie by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt. Each card offers a challenging constraint intended to help artists break creative blocks by encouraging lateral thinking.

Exercise 5 – Sunday 8th of October 2017 “Newton´s Colour Wheel”

From the book “Formulas for Now”, formulated by Hans Ulrich Obrist

Before and after. Cleaning job done.