Transcultural and social project L-INKED
Idea, concept, direction by Jaskaran Anand (EN/ DE)
Centered on questions of sexuality, love, desire and gender, it deals with the intersections of different cultural & social understandings of the mentioned topics, especially in relationship – formation.
ph: Claudia Erblehner and gfk oö
In 2021 -2022, the trans-disciplinary long term socio-cultural project L-INKED will be presented as a series of physical events (like performances, public/panel discussions and workshops) with digital extension (live-streaming/post-production) that unravels the sensitivity & sensibility around the desire of love & sexuality for an individual. It further explores the mythological, historical & current socio-political influences on the concept of relationship- how we define & practice the idea of relationship. It explores the notion of the “Shakti” (energy) that occurs when humans’ bodies interact with each other.
Following various personal experiences, friendly/public/panel discussions, and cross-cultural references around the topic on one hand Jaskaran Anand (concept, direction) realized that the ways of communication, exchange and expression of love during an interaction in order to form a relationship are very objectified. A human’s definition of love and desire is created for and by themselves influenced by many factors such as culture, environment, society, personal expectations and experiences, which in turn, influence the society. The learnt definitions of love : the love of a partner, love of a father, love of a mother, love of a friend, brother or sister- these definitions mark the boundaries on the expression of love between two people which are decided & negotiated amongst themselves via their own pre-occupations about those topics.
In our participatory, creative research formats, we aim to dive deep into the multiple expressions of love and relationships, and develop forms for them to encounter each other in diverse and respectful ways. We try to achieve this by inviting to different creative events, in which we communicate through different artistic/physical expressions like dance, music, video projection/installation, painting, drawing & clay-making alongside with audience participation. These will take place in very different spaces – in art spaces, museums, the art university, in community spaces and especially in the public spaces.
ph: Claudia Erblehner and gfk oö
We try to open up new possibilities of communication that allow us to critically question how people perceive themselves as a duality (body and mind, but also the duality of two genders) from the perspective of “multiple uniqueness”. We envision a society in which people are not ashamed of their bodies, in which they can freely express themselves with their bodies without fear of endangering their health or the health of others.
How do you define a sexual being?
What are realms of a relationship? How does one define the boundaries of a relationship? Is there a role of dominance/ownership in the definition of the relationship?
How does this definition vary in relationship with culture and collective respect & consent towards each other’s pre-occupations?
While raising a question on the influences the spectator of the relationship has, how does the spectator define the boundaries of the desire of being in a relationship – for him/herself & – for the two people in relationship?
How does the technological and social media influences jump in ? How does the practice of stereotypes, based on certain body-shaming, found on social media/mainstream-cinema/dating-apps influences the ideas of bodily intimacy?
During this time of the pandemic, Jaskaran Anand also noticed that people seemed to find it visibly difficult to communicate and interact openly with each other. There is a certain “feeling uncomfortable” at the moment.
In this project we therefore want to explore what it means for people to be limited in their possibilities to express themselves physically and to meet physically.
>> Read the interview with Jaskaran Anand and Brut Wien about the project
ph: Claudia Erblehner and gfk oö
[DE]
Das transdisziplinäre, multikulturelle Kunstprojekt L-INKED versteht sich als kontinuierliches work-in-progress Forschungsformat, das dazu einlädt nachzudenken, wie wir – jeweils von unserem Kontext geprägt – Beziehungen eingehen, welche Rolle unsere Körper dabei spielen, wie wir mit Liebe und Begehren umgehen. Dabei hinterfragen wir Gendernormen und Stereotype in den unterschiedlichen Kulturen kritisch und beziehen Menschen verschiedener Herkünfte und Kontexte mit ein, laden sie zum offenen, kreativen Meinungsaustausch ein, um auch dafür gemeinsam mit Künstler*innen kreativ-performative Methoden zu erproben.
Es ist wichtig, dass Menschen aus unterschiedlichen kulturellen Kontexten als Teilnehmer*innen einbezogen werden und gemeinsam an künstlerisch-partizipativen Events mitwirken und so in einen ungezwungenen, bunten Austausch über Kultur, Differenz, Vermischungen, Intimität, Intersexualität, etc. kommen.
Das Projekt besteht aus einer Serie von Events (Performances, öffentliche Diskussionsveranstaltungen und Interaktionen) im öffentlichen Raum und in Kunst- Kulturräumen in Linz, Wien und Eisenstadt mit einer digitalen Erweiterung (live-streaming).
L-INKED is a project co-produced by Jaskaran Anand , trivium – Verein zur Förderung und Erforschung der kulturellen Intersektionalität des Menschlichen Körpers , brut wien and imagetanz.
We deeply thank our funding, co- production and cooperation partners for supporting this project and our work:
SUPPORTED BY
Lange Nacht der Bühnen, RedSapata Tanzfabrik Linz and Gesellschaft Kulturpolitik OÖ
DIFFERENT EVENTS IN COOPERATION WITH
D.ID Dance Identity Eisenstadt, Initiative Raumschiff Linz, Kunstvermittlung der Museen der Stadt Linz und PANGEA- Werkstatt der Kulturen, Calle Libre Street Art Festival, Lilimit.com
WITH THE KIND SUPPORT OF
Stadt Linz Kultur, Frauenbüro der Stadt Linz, Zeitkultur OÖ, BMKÖS – Frisch Luft (L-INKED in Open Spaces)