Performance at Het HEM in Zaandam, Netherlands, 2022
Photo: [Name]
Adtigo
Adtigo is a duet performance that investigates the complexity of touch and embodied empathy. Through the performers' movements, the audience witnesses the multiplicity of touch—its strength, violence, and agency. The physical and emotional exchanges on stage expose layers of intimacy, power, and vulnerability. The body becomes a medium for storytelling, revealing the nuances of masculinity and human connection. Through (auto-)ethnographic research methods and choreography executed by the male gender, the research correlated a lot to patriarchal power structures, (toxic) masculinity and the fragility of these manmade systems.
Within the making process, I explored the concept of embodied empathy / intra-action, emphasizing how performers and audiences co-create meaning through shared experience. Each rehearsal was recorded, re-investigated, and re-interpreted. Through over 150 hours of content, I tried to fill the performer-spectator gap by matching the performer's experiences with embodied empathy. The collaboration with Andrzej Konieczny fostered a deep sense of responsibility and response-ability between performers and spectators. Through continuous dialogue and embodied exploration, the performers navigated the tensions of touch and its societal implications. The audience's presence and perception further shaped the unfolding narrative, making Adtigo a shared and evolving experience. This process highlighted the transformative potential of movement and the importance of mutual engagement in performance art.
Very Special thanks to the second half of this performance - Andrzej Konieczny - without which I would have never achieved such an intimate and emotional relationship with myself and my work.
© 2022, Leon Lapa Pereira
Performance at Het HEM in Zaandam, Netherlands, 2022
Photo: [Name]
Aris Leon Lapa Pereira (he/him) is a cross-disciplinary performance researcher exploring the boundaries of performative life. Deeply embedded in the landscape of Artistic Research, his personal practice is consistently informed by philosophical inquiry. By merging mechanical and technical knowledge with performative elements, he engages with multiple disciplines with genuine enthusiasm.
Currently focused on the de-romanticisation of nature, Leon investigates the Rights of Nature—specifically, the rights of water—in collaboration with the Embassy of the North Sea. Through this partnership, he co-founded the Confluence of European Water Bodies, a growing network of activist organisations that support his research into intercultural relationships and intimate connections with water.
Alongside this, he is a curator at the Instrument Inventors Initiative (iii) and co-founder of the WASTELAND Festival, where he leads research and performance curation through an ecological lens. Co-creation and collaboration are not just professional principles for Leon, but also sociological commitments—central to his Resonant Bodies Residencies, where these concepts are deeply explored.
For Leon, co-living is a vital practice that is increasingly endangered by today’s polycrisis. He is, therefore, continually seeking methods and tools to cultivate honest, careful, and communal environments.
