Connections special edition: food & disease and food & biological sex

I have this project, called „Connections“ and I´m specially interested in doing a „special edition“ of it due to personal reasons (and the possibility that you are offering in this open call, to have the topic in „food and disease“ and , what I called „biological sex“ - referring to „gender“ but specifically cis-women and cis women sick bodies). It´s a personal reason but it applies to lots of people – 99% of them women – as we are 1 in 10 carrying this illness. „Endometriosis is a condition in which tissue similar to that which lines the inside of your uterine wall grows outside of your uterus. This tissue, called endometrium, causes inflammation and sometimes scar tissue. Endometriosis can be extremely painful, and it’s more common than most people realize. Roughly one in 10 women have endometriosis. That’s about 176 million people worldwide. „ (https://www.healthline.com )

It´s an invisible illness which affects millions of women in the world, it´s chronic, there´s no cure, and symptons goes for instance from extremely painful periods to nausea, exhaustion, headaches, painful legs, infertility and – if it reached other organs as intestines or kidneys for instance – it can even affect urinary and instestinal function. It´s listed among the 20 most painful diseases in the world, according to newsmedical network. One way to manage the painful and disturbing symptons is through food. There´s a whole Internet Sisterhood (some even call themselves „endosisters“ or „endowarriors“) which is in general called „Endodiet“. What to avoid, what to consume, how to make it tasty and, through food, bring some joy in life, even baring a chronic, invisible illness.

I´d like to use this opportunity you´re offering to put together my performance piece „Connections“ and my personal research on Endodiet, and – as usual for this piece- as a site specific piece, using the knowledgment and the ingredients that are endogenous to the region, or mostly used in the place. Sensing the body in connections

Concept: The performance intends to emphasize the connection, building different kinds of sensory and semiotic perception in the people and in the place where I will present my performances, hopefully building within it themain subject of the residency – small pleasures. As it´s stated here by me in this proposal, there´s inside and outside spaces in pleasures in life and it can be connected to the citizens residing in the city and what the culture and nature are offering. I intend to create the possibility of a non spoken dialogue, which will embroden diversity independently of which language is spoken and understood . Smells and perfumes, tea being cooked and offered, food , incense and parfume, all in live action, being „moved“ (danced perhaps?) – all ingredients that are related to the country, its inhabitants, coworkers and, nowadays, turists. The connection of natural elements – the water for instance – with a building, the natural force and the human force connected and interacting. The necessity of nature and the transformation of it through the human hands and technology . All present, all there. SENSING THE BODY IN CONNECTIONS therefore proposes dialogue, creation, interaction and questioning of our ability of seeing this sensory web which we live in. Human movement is a core part of the proposal – dance, cooking, boiling water, spreading flavours around the place. Interaction, bringing together people from different fields , different places, different kinds of life, but all connected in the moment at that specific place, that specific moment. Offering another kind of approach to the place and to the people who are there, as Lamothe says: What if a human being is not an individual first? What if there is no one who wants to attach and no one to whom to attach, but simply an ongoing rhytim of bodily becoming ? What if a human person, whether infant or adult, is nothing more or less than an impulse to connect? My intention is to create temporary, transient and site specific interactions and connections in the space, to be developed alone or in collaboration with other artists if they show interest in participating and co-creating. Materials as body, food, liquids to drink or smell are part of the research and will be at the performance, enabling a public dialogue and opening spaces of action and interaction. As a Performance Artist who is also a Biologist and with a Master in Arts (communication) I have always been fascinated by the theory of Gaia and all its affluents. Cities and villages are like human ecosystems,with symbiotic and parasitc relations, with their own microclimates, living beings, production and consumption of work, food, housing...vibrating and transforming and always, always connected . I do believe that this proposal is a possibility of creating awareness about the relationship and connection from nature and human environment, rather than the hectic and somewhat wrong idea that we have of separating knowledge in boxes and the further difficulty in seeing the interdisciplinarity inherence existent among them.

Research: - visiting food and spice local markets,  talk to cooks of small local restaurants  visit dance schools and theater centers  observe how old citizens live their daily life (housing and fooding)  observe the level and intensity of human interaction with the nature surrounding the village / city and / or visiting parks  find an artist who speaks Japanese and would like to help me conducting some interviews with local people about their preferences in small pleasures (food, drinking, moving the body)

Creation : my artistic output shall be given to the community as it will be provided through inspiration by this own community. People will be invited to multiple actions of enjoyment and movement happening separeted or at the same time – my body moving (as I really enjoy moving) and other bodies moving (or not), beverages to be smelled before drinking, water sounds to be heared, food to be eaten. There is no way unfortunatelly to provide you with further details besides the ones I have already provided in my statement, as it is a site specific work and, as so, it´ll be clear when being done. Also, this work is very much interactive,inspired by the people surrounding me and their wishes. I´m responsible for the work and the concept – no doubt about it – but I´m also a caregiver in this creational part of the process – through my loving and no-judgemental interaction with the others the actions and situations I want to show will arise.

CONNECTIONS – Brief and Budget I have generally worked with dance and movement as my main media for performance art, but since I got diagnosed one and half year ago with Endometriosis, I am slowly transitioning to a more conceptual and visual idea of perfomance art, due to the invisible disability my body developed. This gave me a richer, broader idea of art . I´d like very much to share it with everyone. Participation from audience is something that has always been present, but now even strongly. Specially in Connections I´d like to use the new knowledge about food I have gotten this last year after been diagnosed. I´d like to spread the idea of connecting through healthy, yet delicious food, and through smell, through the senses, getting the community together. Reaching different kinds of people. I also believe that through this performance I can create body movement -a more daily, urban movement, available to everyone, non-specialized audiences included. First Connections would be presented at Nadas, Istanbul, but it got canceled since the space is still not ready for performance pieces. Connections will be a small part of a Artistic Residency I´m doing next year in Komoro, Japan, for a bigger project I have called Small Pleasures. It´d be amazing to have the opportunity of developing in detail this performance piece, and also, through the experience, being able to compare the influence that different cultures have on the idea of taste and olfatosensation (smells) being part of a performance celebration. I´m an immigrant who scaped violence and poverty from an amazing, multi cultural and rich in flavours place, Brazil. Eating there is a more spontaneous celebration, without many formalities, embracing the collective. I´d like to embrace and celebrate the multicultural Europe we´re living in. BUDGET: adaptable according to the reach of people, repetition, duration and intensity. I´m open for dialogue.

Anajara Laisa Amarante Live Art Performance Artist | Dance & Movement Teacher | Biologist | Communication Scientist | Live Model Web | http://sofiasurya.wix.com/anajaraamarante Instagram https://www.instagram.com/anajaralaisa/ E-mail | anajaralaisa@gmail.com Phone | +49 [0] 17678991841 Address | Wiener Strasse 39, 10999 Berlin, Germany