SCORES – Insert Tanzquartier Wien
Things that surround us
von Clément Layes
Erschienen in: Theater der Zeit: Je suis Charlie (02/2015)
Assoziationen: Österreich Tanz
Things that surround us (TTSU) started from a phenomenological idea, the desire to inquire into the phenomenon of the »thing«. To deal with this strange, complex, invisible act that makes a chair be a chair, a bottle be a bottle. In this sense TTSU is a slightly utopian attempt to reach things directly outside of the realm of language and the control of grammar. It follows Paul Valéry’s desire »to give the sensation without the boredom of its conveyance.« TTSU does not start with this but builds up towards it, starting with things and language, going through circles it approaches a silent promenade. As long as things are implied in a grammar, in a system, they are part of knowledge and representation, and cannot be directly experienced. To try to overcome this dictate we start by exposing things and meanings and we break them down, to the point of abstraction. TTSU is a kind of meditation on things. It relates to my practice of Vipassana, a type of meditation in which you observe; it means »to see what is«. In learning this technique you spend about ten hours a day sitting silently, and for ten days. In this time you...
