-
Sculptural Performance Costume
- Handmade unique piece
PERIOD_O is a performative exploration of the menstrual cycle as a physical-emotional process. The work translates cyclical states into movement, proximity, and presence, making a usually invisible experience physically tangible for the audience.
The performance begins in a withdrawn, almost secluded state. The body is in a cocoon-like form – protected, confined, introverted. Movement is minimal, fragmented, as if the body is working against itself. This state represents menstruation: withdrawal, heaviness, a need for isolation.
Slowly, a change emerges. The body begins to free itself from this shell. Movements become more fluid, expansive, open. A transition from constriction to expansion occurs. A blossoming that happens not suddenly, but tentatively and organically. The body straightens, takes up space, becomes visible.
In the third phase, the body enters a clear presence. The movements are confident, direct, and consciously placed in space. The body reveals itself without hiding. Transparency, openness, and fluidity are hinted at through movement, referencing the physical processes of ovulation without explicitly depicting them.
This openness gradually shifts into an internal tension and moves into the last phase before menstruation. Movement becomes heavier, more repetitive, partly contradictory. The body appears simultaneously present and irritated, as if accompanied or controlled by inner voices. Fragments of criticism, doubt, and overwhelm become physically palpable without being concretely expressed. The cycle approaches a state of withdrawal again.
The performance uses proximity as a central element. The performer consciously moves through the space, repeatedly coming into direct proximity to the audience. Individual moments arise where movements pause in front of individual people. A brief standstill that creates intimacy and intensifies the emotional level. The audience becomes not just an observer, but part of an immediate, physical exchange.
The performance is conceived as a cyclical process that does not require a clear beginning or end in the classical sense, but can be interpreted as a recurring experience.
