Four fingers move the hands of a watch, constantly following the same ritornello. Hands shove themselves between two pillows, soft and gentle, lying on a chair. A naked body moves in slow motion through a crack of light, similar to a lava lamp, gently, stretched out in time. “Zeitränder” (1998), “dealing with life” (2008), “rissumriss” (2001) and all the many other pieces by Christina Ciupke: they all contain the sensuality of a research into movement that reaches beyond the visual and seems to land directly on the viewer’s skin, a haptic surface that subsequently short-circuits to the brain.
Ciupke’s choreographies usually carry the principle of deceleration within them, of touching, reflecting and trying again. There is hardly any other artist, who succeeds so meaningfully in bringing together conceptual thought and physical presence on stage. Or, better said, she literally shows that both levels, so often thought to be separate, belong to one body that feels and reflects. That this is only possible in exchange with others, is revealed in her close co-operations with artists such as Gisela Dilchert, Nik Haffner, Mart Kangro or Lucy Cash. They are her photographic, artistic and also choreographic counterparts and create harmony, as well as tension in their encounters with Ciupke’s movement cosmos. The result are duets situated between the image and the body, bodies and light, bodies and bodies, which gently, caressingly stimulate our perception and arouse our capacities for intellectual comprehension.
Ciupke’s choreographies usually carry the principle of deceleration within them, of touching, reflecting and trying again. There is hardly any other artist, who succeeds so meaningfully in bringing together conceptual thought and physical presence on stage. Or, better said, she literally shows that both levels, so often thought to be separate, belong to one body that feels and reflects. That this is only possible in exchange with others, is revealed in her close co-operations with artists such as Gisela Dilchert, Nik Haffner, Mart Kangro or Lucy Cash. They are her photographic, artistic and also choreographic counterparts and create harmony, as well as tension in their encounters with Ciupke’s movement cosmos. The result are duets situated between the image and the body, bodies and light, bodies and bodies, which gently, caressingly stimulate our perception and arouse our capacities for intellectual comprehension.
Susanne Foellmer
