Capturing Motion – Contact Improvisation
A visual exploration of nonverbal dialogue…
This project delves into the unspoken language of human connection, revealing its depth and nuance through the interplay of bodies engaged in a dance of embodied communication. This series is born from a profound curiosity about the subtleties of nonverbal interaction, often neglected in our dialogue-centric world.
In cooperation with dancer and performative artist Ursula Fink, this project was executed at Semmelweisklinik in Vienna, an artist-run space known for exhibitions, workshops and artistic exploration. It involved partnerships with sustainable Viennese fashion brands „Plural Fashion“ and „SBIN“, bringing together the realms of contact improvisation, photography, and eco-conscious fashion.
Long exposure times spanning up to 12 seconds of time are a tool that allows us to capture time. A moment, but also the before and after. In a way, we are looking at a stretch of time, a segment of physical connection, a phrase. A line. Shaped by movement—grammar and vocabulary are replaced by intuition, trust and groundedness within oneself.
This grammar is governed by physical principles about shared weight in motion. The vocabulary always emerges anew from trust into the unknown and is coloured by listening to the movement that unfolds in the here and now. A stretch in time becomes visible and invites the beholder to tap deeper into the fragility and stability of the perpetual here & now.
This series allows for a glance at otherwise unseen views of improvised connections. Each image encapsulates the moment of perception and being perceived, a moment and what follows. At the moment the first light enters my lens, the dancers themselves are unaware of where their dance leads them until the exposure ends. A delicate interplay of time, coincidence and intuition becomes visible.
The images symbolise the fusion of improvisation’s spontaneity and photography’s documentary essence. Utilising an ND filter to decrease the exposure by 9 stops, I captured natural light within an extended timeframe. This process, inherently unpredictable, hinges upon the interplay of natural elements, settings, and emotions, offering a glimpse into a moment of nonverbal dialogue, impossible to recreate.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Ursula Fink, her dedicated collaboration partner Menno, and the fashion brands „Plural Fashion“ and „SBIN“ for their invaluable contributions to the successful realisation of our vision. A big thanks to Sophia Bieringer for assisting me and everybody at Semmelweisklinik for their support.
Behind the scenes
BTS von Sophia Bieringer
