Creating liminal and ritual spaces in participatory performance – The utilization of embodied ritual structures and principles, and therapeutic elements, to propose spaces of transitional and liminal experience.

The project aims at creating participatory and immersive performances and installations, in which audience can experience liminal and ritual aspects. The work will be based on investigations of elements of physical performance (gestures, postures, movements) in the context of death and mourning rituals in several cultures, including a search for possibly recurrent, cross-culturally appearing elements or principles. Based on the often reported lack of such in contemporary everyday life, e. g. for the shaping, marking and embedding of various transitions and processes of transformation, a central aspect will be the utilization of embodied ritual elements, structures, and principles for the proposal of spaces of transitional and liminal experience. Central research questions will be:
- How can certain mechanisms and structures of rituals, and possibly therapy, be translated into theatrical and performative artistic contexts?
- How can spaces be designed (including audience participation) to become possibly transformative spaces of experience for ‚audience‘?
- How can movements, gestures and postures performed cross-culturally in the context of death and mourning rites be adapted in such a way that they mark, shape and accompany transitions on different levels?
- What effects and functions could such elements take over, and why in the context of theatre and performance?