Researchers Exchange: The Velvet Communication Landscape
A collaboration between SENSING LIVING SYSTEMS and SHAKEN GROUNDS
Two artistic research projects funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF PEEK) – SENSING LIVING SYSTEMS and SHAKEN GROUNDS. Seismography of Precarious Presences – came together for an exchange of ideas, practices and methods. In an intimate setting at the Angewandte Performance Laboratory, artists and researchers met with invited guests from the fields of art, science and culture to reflect on the evolving nature of their research and explore new forms of resonance.
At the heart of the exchange was a tactile scenographic setting titled “The Velvet Communication Landscape” – a temporary landscape made of velvet materials that invited participants to move, speak, rest, reflect and connect. Divided into thematic “islands”, the installation served as a map of methods, gestures, intentions and open questions. Contributions, notes and sketches from guests were gathered directly on a printed floor plan and later evaluated by the project teams.
The afternoon session offered space for focused dialogue between the project groups. Inputs by psychoanalyst and climate psychologist Dr. Joseph Dodds brought in a reflective perspective on the psychological dimensions of climate crisis and transformation. In the evening, the space opened to a broader group of invited professionals. A shared dinner rounded off the exchange and strengthened connections across disciplines.
The collaboration between the projects allowed for deep insight into current approaches to multisensory scenography, artistic ritual, and embodied knowledge. Through the combination of research presentations, participatory formats and tactile scenography, the exchange created a rare moment of resonance between systems awareness and seismic sensitivity.
May 2024 – Angewandte Performance Lab, University of Applied Arts Vienna
