Gandalf (they/them)
Gandalf is a Shibari artist based in Shanghai, China. They were trained as a cognitive scientist before becoming full-time rope artist and the organizer of Embodied Flow, a local community for rope and its various intersecting art forms. Gandalf teaches rope to the general public as a means to facilitate embodied dialogues on care, gender, power, and everything to do with “being together”. Their curriculum (named “心意”) is heavily inspired by different styles of theatre and dance. It aims to explore the communication potential of rope and facilitate practitioners to devise their own approach to tying. They have also started the “Kinbaku Theatre” initiative to further push the boundaries of rope performance.
instagram: @land_of_incanus and @embodied.flow