14–23 MAY 2021

Tactility Studies:
Hold To Reset


Presented as part of the Festival House programming for the Singapore International Festival of Arts (2021)



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: This is from our workshop; this shows the side profile of a masked up participant who is also wearing latex gloves and socks; she is sitting with her legs stretched out. The lower half of her legs are snuggled in a round rattan tray, which has a plastic hand peeking out on one side. She has placed two rows of black pebbles along her legs and is poised to balance two whitish chess pieces on her knees. Another photo from our workshop; a different masked participant in a blue denim jacket has a red-and-white striped blanket draped over her left shoulder and right hip, and is balancing on one leg on a fuzzy bean bag. She is also holding a backscratcher as if about to scratch the soles of her own feet. Separated by a hospital frame from which real and artificial plants hang, another masked person looks down at a round bamboo tray, which she has sandwiched between her feet. IMAGE DESCRIPTION: This is from the performance; the performer is tilting her body slightly back and looking diagonally up in concentration, seemingly trying to create more space to balance something white on her right clavicle. She is dressed in a variety of textures: a pale blue velvet top, a black lace knit cardigan, and mauve linen trousers. Around and behind her are other textures: patches of artificial grass and something white and billowy. IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Another photo from our workshop; a different masked participant in a blue denim jacket has a red-and-white striped blanket draped over her left shoulder and right hip, and is balancing on one leg on a fuzzy bean bag. She is also holding a backscratcher as if about to scratch the soles of her own feet. Separated by a hospital frame from which real and artificial plants hang, another masked person looks down at a round bamboo tray, which she has sandwiched between her feet. IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A wide shot of the performance space – the high ceilings and white walls give a sense of spaciousness, while the wooden flooring, warm lighting from low lamps and natural light coming in through the large windows on the right create a sense of cosiness. Framed against the windows on the right are a cellist and a performer, while on the left various audiences watch on from their individual ‘pods’ as demarcated by rugs and cushions and low tables, real and artificial plants, and assorted tchotchkes. IMAGE DESCRIPTION: This is from the performance; the performer is sitting on a rug with her back against the wall and her legs outstretched. In a black-and-white patterned housedress and yellow patterned socks, she seems deep in thought, perhaps focusing on the contact between the back of her head and the artificial grass that is hanging down from a window ledge behind her head. In the background, separated by a nearby hospital frame that has a hanging fabric lamp and other materials, there is also a cellist playing.


Photos from Tactility Studies: Hold to Reset (2021). Credit: Moonrise Studio.




SYNOPSIS

When was the last time you felt safe and free in your own body? A response to a year of collective upheaval and the human costs of ‘pushing on’, Tactility Studies: Hold to Reset is an invitation to audiences to open up their bodies as sites and spaces for performance – to be soft, to wobble, to stretch and uncoil. 






The piece will unfold in three parts: mini-workshops that invite you to hold space and care for your own body; durational performances that pay attention to our collective bodies; and an experiential installation where anyone can sit and spend time with other human, object and plant bodies.

If you’re feeling the weight of aches you’ve absorbed, or reflecting on the callouses that've grown over the skin of your heart, we hope that this is a reminder - where there is tension, there can be release.




CO-DIRECTORS

Chong Gua Khee 
Bernice Lee

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Natasha Lau


DRAMATURG

Corrie Tan


SPACE DESIGN

TiTam co.


SOUND DESIGN COMPOSITION
AND LIVE MUSIC

SAtheCollective


PERFORMERS

Adele Goh
Bib Mockram


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