Nobody: Now Bodies Jede*r – ob lernend oder lehrend - ist an den eigenen Körper gebunden. Obwohl Körper vielfach den Ausgangspunkt von Crip-, Queer- und Gender Studies bilden, wird Wissen selbst innerhalb dieser Felder zumeist in starrer, sitzender Haltung er- und verarbeitet. Die in Kooperation mit dem Tanzquartier Wien (TQW; Isabel Lewis und Christina Gillinger) konzipierte Vorlesungsreihe geht daher vom Körper aus, um dessen Ästhetisierung, Disziplinierung und vermeintliche Neutralität zu dekonstruieren. Der Titel „Nobody: Now Bodies“ verweist auf die historische Fiktion einer entkörperlichten Wissensproduktion, die durch verkörperte, situierte Praktiken in der Gegenwartskunst in Frage gestellt wird.
Anstatt künstlerische Körperpraktiken lediglich als Untersuchungsgegenstand zu behandeln, versteht die Vorlesungsreihe Verkörperung (embodiment; Jones 1998, Fischer-Lichte 2004) daher als Methode sinnliches und intellektuelles Verstehen zu verbinden. Der Kurs ist um fünf zentrale Praktiken organisiert: performing, encoding, assembling, cripping und morphing. Diese fungieren zugleich als beschreibende wie analytische Werkzeuge zur Auseinandersetzung mit zeitgenössischen Kunstwerken, Performances und theoretischen Texten. Alle Sitzungen beinhalten bewegungsbasierte Praktiken, die gemeinsam von Isabel Lewis und den Teilnehmenden entwickelt werden.
Die Einführungssitzung am 5.3.2026 mündet in ein Künstlergespräch mit Tino Sehgal, dessen wegweisende Arbeit This Variation später im TQW gezeigt wird (für Teilnehmende der Vorlesungsreihe wird es ermäßigte Tickets geben). Für performing erkunden wir vor Ort die Infrastrukturen der Praktiken im TQW und sprechen mit Lewon Heublein über seine kuratorische Arbeit beim Festival Rakete, das wir im Mai gemeinsam besuchen werden. Encoding diskutiert nicht nur die Wiederkehr der „Cyborg” (Haraway 1985) in der zeitgenössischen Kunst – etwa in den Arbeiten von Tabita Rezaire in Bezug auf das cyberfeministische Kollektiv VNS Matrix –, sondern auch die technische Vermittlung von Körperlichkeit ebenso wie die sozialen Choreografien codierter Verhaltensweisen.
Darauf aufbauend werden „Körpern in Allianz“ (Butler 2011) – insbesondere deren Versammlung (assembling) im öffentlichen Raum – thematisiert, um deren politische Handlungsfähigkeit ebenso wie deren Regulierung durch institutionelle Machtformen sichtbar zu machen. Oeuvres wie jene von Nicola L. oder Anna Witt machen den Körper als Kommunikations- und Widerstandsmedium erfahrbar. Letzteres ist grundlegend für cripping als Unterwanderung ableistischer Normen, beispielsweise in den Arbeiten von Lorenza Böttner und Michael Turinsky. Dabei hinterfragen wir sowohl „Zwangsabilität“ (McRuer 2012) als auch kunsthistorische Schönheitskonzepte. Formveränderungen sind zentral für das, was wir als morphing bezeichnen: Die dynamischen Anpassungen von Körpern, die in mehr-als-menschliche Ökosysteme eingebettet sind, etwa bei den Künstler*innen Yoh Morishita oder Juliana Huxley.
Nobody: Now Bodies: Everybody learning or teaching is bound to their body. Although crip, queer, and gender studies often revolve around bodies, the production and processing of knowledge is mostly taught in a stiff, seated position. Thus, this lecture series developed in cooperation with Tanzquartier Wien (TQW; Isabel Lewis and Christina Gillinger) is grounded in bodies to deconstruct their aestheticization, disciplining and alleged neutrality. The title “Nobody: Now Bodies” refers to the historical fiction of disembodied knowledge production and its contemporary contestation through situated, corporeal practices. Rather than treating the body merely as an object of analysis, the lecture series understands embodiment (Jones 1998, Fischer-Lichte 2004) as a method for building bridges“ between sensory and intellectual understanding. The course is organized around five key practices: performing, encoding, assembling, cripping, and morphing. These practices function as both descriptive and analytical tools for engaging with contemporary artworks, performances, and theoretical texts. All sessions will include movement-based practices jointly developed by Isabel Lewis and the participants. The first session on 5 March 2026 culminates in an artist talk with Tino Sehgal. His seminal work This Variation will be presented at TQW that evening (with reduced rates for lecture participants). In the session on performing, we explore the infrastructures of movement practices at TQW on site and talk to Lewon Heublein about his curation of the festival Rakete, which we will attend together in May. Encoding discusses not only the revival of the “cyborg” (Haraway 1985) within contemporary arts, for instance through works by Tabita Rezaire referring to the cyberfeminist collective VNS Matrix, but also the technical mediation of corporality and the social choreographies of coded behaviours. Building on that, “bodies in alliance” (Butler 2011), particularly their assembling in public space, are discussed to foreground both the political agency of bodies as well as their regulation by institutional forms of authority. Oeuvres such as those of Nicola L. or Anna Witt show how the body can be a medium of communication and resistance. The latter is foundational for cripping as process of subverting ableist norms, exemplary in the works of Lorenza Böttner and Michael Turinsky. We challenge the notion of “compulsory able-bodiedness“ (McRuer 2012) just as much as art historical concepts of beauty. Shape-shifting is central for what we describe as morphing referring to the dynamic adaptation of bodies embedded in more-than-human ecosystems, as in the case of artists Yoh Morishita or Juliana Huxley.
Nobody: Now Bodies: Everybody learning or teaching is bound to their body. Although crip, queer, and gender studies often revolve around bodies, the production and processing of knowledge is mostly taught in a stiff, seated position. Thus, this lecture series developed in cooperation with Tanzquartier Wien (TQW; Isabel Lewis and Christina Gillinger) is grounded in bodies to deconstruct their aestheticization, disciplining and alleged neutrality. The title “Nobody: Now Bodies” refers to the historical fiction of disembodied knowledge production and its contemporary contestation through situated, corporeal practices. Rather than treating the body merely as an object of analysis, the lecture series understands embodiment (Jones 1998, Fischer-Lichte 2004) as a method for building bridges“ between sensory and intellectual understanding. The course is organized around five key practices: performing, encoding, assembling, cripping, and morphing. These practices function as both descriptive and analytical tools for engaging with contemporary artworks, performances, and theoretical texts. All sessions will include movement-based practices jointly developed by Isabel Lewis and the participants. The first session on 5 March 2026 culminates in an artist talk with Tino Sehgal. His seminal work This Variation will be presented at TQW that evening (with reduced rates for lecture participants). In the session on performing, we explore the infrastructures of movement practices at TQW on site and talk to Lewon Heublein about his curation of the festival Rakete, which we will attend together in May. Encoding discusses not only the revival of the “cyborg” (Haraway 1985) within contemporary arts, for instance through works by Tabita Rezaire referring to the cyberfeminist collective VNS Matrix, but also the technical mediation of corporality and the social choreographies of coded behaviours. Building on that, “bodies in alliance” (Butler 2011), particularly their assembling in public space, are discussed to foreground both the political agency of bodies as well as their regulation by institutional forms of authority. Oeuvres such as those of Nicola L. or Anna Witt show how the body can be a medium of communication and resistance. The latter is foundational for cripping as process of subverting ableist norms, exemplary in the works of Lorenza Böttner and Michael Turinsky. We challenge the notion of “compulsory able-bodiedness“ (McRuer 2012) just as much as art historical concepts of beauty. Shape-shifting is central for what we describe as morphing referring to the dynamic adaptation of bodies embedded in more-than-human ecosystems, as in the case of artists Yoh Morishita or Juliana Huxley.
- Teacher: Mareike