Robert Steijn: moon/sun/kiss/earth

Nine performative artists – mostly based in Vienna – reenact a collective ritual that restores the magic connection between the human and the non human world. Through meditative mediation of music, dance, words and projected film fragments they provoke a shared experience of a new cosmology that breaks with the perspective of the anthropocene because it encourages a human collaboration with the earth as in an equal love affair. It is an exercise in interrelatedness in sovereignty. No longer we feel seperated from the earth by our exploitation of the natural resources. On the contrary, our main source of creation is the act of listening to the vegetal narratives of the land where we live. The ritual starts with identifying oneself with the underground mycelium network. This hidden web of interconnected hyphae serves as a powerful symbol of interconnectedness and resilience. It reminds us of the importance of nurturing both visible and invisible connections in life. The ritual will end in a spot, many light years away from the earth, somewhere in the galaxy, where we create new star constellations, for future generations to read their destiny in newly invented myths. The sun/moon/ kiss/ earth ritual contains reminiscences of psychedelic journeys induced by plantmedecines like ayuasca and magic mushrooms. This magic cosmology will now only be provoked by music, dance, poetry and imagery and will become an embodied experience for the performers and their audience that alters their thinking about politics and ecology.

The ritual Sun/Moon/Kiss/ Earth has its origins in the practice of Robert Steijn, an Amsterdam based choreographer. In the summer of 2022 he was asked not to show one of his performances, but only to share his practice as a performative healer (playing with the perception time and space) on stage during the festival ‚hidden connections – visible ecologies‘. His somatic movement-practice as choreographer in connection with the environment is strongly influenced by Santo Daime ceremonies in Mexico, his intitiation in the serpent deity Oxumarein Sao Paolo, and his life burial meditations in collaboration with Elle/the Monaster in Europe. The sharing of his practice in Oslo unconsciously transformed into a collective ritual that the audience orced to reflect about a more magic relationship with the earth.
Dance research centre ImFlieger, the gallery Eindorf supported his idea to expand this ritual in collaboration with other artists. During the residency in ImFlieger the cellist and performer Laura Pudelek joined. ( January 2023) In the two residencies in Eindorf ( April and October 2023), four makers form the Viennese dance world joined the team: Masoumeh Jalalieh, Rotraud Kern, Agnes Schneidewind and Daniel Zimmermann. During an improvisational version of this ritual in the cantina of the Österreichisch-Portugiesische Gesellschaft the film director Hugo Vieira de Silva worked with film projections and is now also a member of the team ( November 2023). In the event in echoraum there will be two new participants: the Paris based choreographer Matthieu Blond and the musician Philip Leitner.

with the support of Laterna/ Oslo, ImFlieger/ Vienna, Eindorf / Vienna, Österreichisch-Portugiesische Gesellschaft/ Vienna