Illustrated cahier, documenting long distance relations via Skype, messenger and mail, 2017
Antiheros 2016/17
Family, lovers, birds 2016/17
Speculative Empathy, SE
Speculative Empathy is a movement within applied, contemporary, continental-inspired philosophy and performing arts, also, known as post-continental philosophy, that defines itself loosely in its stance of metaphysical empathy against its interpretation of the dominant forms of “correlationism”. The term tries to expand notions such as “speculative realism/ materialism” by repositioning the thinking, sensing and experiencing, thus, philosophising human subject with an interest of highlighting its ability to empathise with a thing x and through the strategic embracing of the unescapable condition of anthropomorphism. Rather than operating on planes, which are suggestive of a certain (or not so certain) “realism”, SE actively makes use of the joint synergy of both speculative and empathic processes in order to generate tools to converse with (non-)human entities in collectively fictionalised meeting planes, in design specific to each encounter of materialities. Making use of the wide emotional spectrum human beings are equipped with, SE re-purposes the unavoidable miscommunications that are at play in the complex and layered encounter of multi-real and Interspecies planes of conversations. Practitioner of SE boldly accuse their environment of being telepathically interlinked with them and that based on this assumption, they share a common field, where they can exchange, support, understand and emotionally stabilise one another. SE practitioners are very open minded towards exploring and performing dynamic, absurd, sensual and unexplainably emotional labor for a various range of materials, things, other human beings and domestic and non-domestic subobjects.
When I started working on this material, almost 2 years ago, I was interested in animal dances. I found it very fascinating, as a dancer, who had spent the majority of their life withdrawing meaning out of dance as an occupation, that we for fact are not the only species that engages in this behaviour.
Through a subtle and precarious approach,“An attendee” tries to guide the audience perspective into the details of space, along the edge of (un)spectacular events, towards the frictions of different encounters.
“The Orange Rest/Sacrifice” is a former form, originally designed by Toni Steffens and Sigrid Stigsdatter. It was for the first time interactively realised at the Picnic Pavillon in Venice, May 2019 and later the same Year at QRU Amsterdam East. ”Orange Rest” offers a Vitamin C Boost and the possibility to rest and rejuvenate. Facilitated as a simple station to take a break from hectic life, oranges get prepared to be juiced by the audience member laying on them.
Since 2017 Toni Steffens and Sigrid Stigsdatter create a body of work that researches and deals with the politics of collaboration as a shared encounter. Their choreographic practice tries to evoke a space that can communicate, negotiate and alternate its needs like a self expressing environment.
“Hope,Test- a strategy of performative memories" is a collection of seven written pieces deriving from Toni Steffens archive of performative materials at the intersection of perception, fiction, emotion and pseudo scientific observation.
“Metamotion for 270degrees” loosely departs from the biblical story of Salome. The work approaches the young, dancing female body to touch upon myths around femininity in western art history, in conjunction with christianity and the implemented cancellation of that character. Hovering in and out of those images, the performer enters into dialogue with different objects, times, references and narratives and switches roles, being its facilitator, user, friend, sparring partner.
The project is to project.
In a 3D canvas images perform for (not only) a human gaze that imagines itself as an audience. The materiality of these images shapes, looks out, elaborates and confuses itself until something unfolds in front of our all eyes.
"Maybe when we speak of “movement”, Amsterdam is limping a bit, as we have a problem of relations. I wish institutions and freelance artists were to engage much more and had honest and challenging conversations. It should be an ongoing conversation where we acknowledge that we need each other."
Unfamiliarities is a space for artists of various disciplines to present their work in progress and to create a conversation subsequently. The project finds its genesis in the desire to design a space, where fragile, unfinished, and perhaps unfunded works can be witnessed and nourished. The aim is to create a momentum for artists, that stimulates their artistic processes by means of exchange.
Unfamiliarities
PAST-Present-future
JUNE 11-14 : PLANETARY POETICS / SANDBERG GRADUATION SHOW AT FRAMER FRAMED AMSTERDAM, HEART BREAK RADIO, 12TH OF JUNE, 5PM, 13TH OF JUNE 1;30PM, PERFORMANCE UNDER ARMOUR, 13TH OF JUNE 6PM, 14 OF JUNE 4PM
SEPTEMBER 14: In collaboration with TONI BRELL at Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen, Performance at 4:15pm, Finissage Toen de dieren nog spraken
SEPTEMBER 20: BROKEN HEART DANCES, WORKSHOP DURING RE-NATURE FESTIVAL/ GRIEF SPACES, 2PM, FULL INFO: https://re-nature.org/
September + October 2025 : teaching movement research at the university for applied sciences, Osnabrück, BA theatre pedagogy
NOVEMBER 2025 : TEACHING MOVEMENT RESEARCH AT SNDO AMSTERDAM, BA CHOREOGRAPHY
DECEMBER 2025 : CREATION TOGETHER THE WITH 2ND AND 3RD YEAR STUDENTS OF SNDO, AMSTERDAM IN COLLABORATION WITH CHOREOGRAPHER ELISA ZUPPINI
.png)
.png)
.png)
