I Belong to the Distance 3, (Force Multiplier)

I Belong to the Distance 3,(Force Multiplier), a new performance by choreographer Kwon Lyoneun, stems from research and exchanges with artist Torkwase Dyson around her sculptural works by the same title, and from their conversations about freedom of movement, environmental violence, and spatial liberation strategies.

The performance departs from a sense of implied behaviors in public spaces and the prohibitions that are part of them. Signs such as “Do not pray here,” which are often found at train stations, airports, mountains, and beaches, indicate that prayer is an act against public order but also that the prohibited act of prayer is being performed there. These types of announcements can tend to encourage discriminatory speeches and attitudes deeply rooted in social, cultural, and ethnic politics.

During the performance, the performers travel perpetually around the sculpture, practicing the contact, vibration, solidarity, and connection between the body and the objects. This practice escapes the normative protocols and accepted behaviors set by society and embodies an act of liberation from spatial and social constrictions and the layers of histories and violence that have helped to build and uphold them.