Art of Connection - House of Neurotic Womxn (mixed)

Some of the most transfixing images from cinema, history books or performance art show women losing their shit – or finding another state of mind – in obsession, hysteria, ecstasy. This workshop will be a tribute to the aesthetic and imaginative qualities of these twilight zones, like the subway scene from Andrzej Żuławskis “Possession” (famously reenacted in Young Father’s music video ‘Voodoo in my Blood’), photographies of the contortions of the hysterics from Charcot’s Salpêtrière, myths of eerie vvitches or phantasma of exorcistic rituals.

We want to play with and embrace the often neglected grotesque, slimy, monstrous, weird and overwhelming elements of eros. Acknowledging, that we might have trained to have the perfect seductive bedroom-look, but it could be more rewarding to allow ourselves to go into (supposedly) ugly grimacing. Together we will hold the space for you to let it out, to exhaust yourself, trying out getting kookoo, exorcising something out of you, go into strange poses, to swear or speak in tongues, to stop having to be the soft, neat and quiet female* that is usually the only version society accepts, so we can all say “This is horrible! Please don’t stop!”

Drawing inspiration from Butoh dance, exhaustion work, Grotowski method, artworks, queer theory and historical materials, we will share our wishes, phantasies and ideas to create little scenes of freakouts and breakdowns for everyone who wants to tap into the powerful sources of the neurotic womxn.