P! SCORES FOR THE BODY, BUILDING & SOUL 2017

Scores for the Body, Building & Soul for SĂŁo Luiz Teatro Municipal, Lisbon

by David Helbich

1. Perform the pieces in any order, but for best results do them all.

2. Don’t be put off by the historical references.

3. It is all about you and your actual experience.

4. If you enjoy this, do it twice.

Cheers Valie Export Go to any particular architectural element present. Press your body, your side, your back or your front firmly against this element, as if you try to disappear into it. Absorb your body, mind and soul into the element.

Finish with this one: Go to the landing of the main staircase. Lay down on the floor and squeeze yourself ‘under’ the last step. Try briefly to forget, where you are.

2

Wow, Hunter S. Thompson Hang head first over waist-high objects, like the bar counter on the second floor or the staircase railing to the toilets. Hang there for at least 30 seconds.

Actually, try even longer.

3

Yvonne Rainer is in the house Do this in one naturally slow and fluid movement: Go stand in front of one of the old heaters - directly lift your right foot from the floor - stretch this leg to the back - put your left arm all the way behind the heater - touch the ground with the tip of the lifted foot and make a movement as if you stub out a cigarette - also shove the right arm behind the heater - slowly turn your face, probably squeezed against the wall, to the other side. Hold this position for a bit.

Get out of this position by taking out the left arm - slowly turn your body to the left away from the heater - while leaving pull out the right arm without looking at it - leave the heater location at a slow pace - look back only once.

Go to another heater, on another floor and repeat the phrase.

4

Wall Sex I On the ground floor, to the right of the main entrance, go to the cloakroom on the left side of the theater space, hidden behind a wall in the corner.

Go to this wall and touch both sides of the wall with one hand on each side, so that your forehead is pressed lightly against the short end of the wall.

Try to find the location of the other hand on the other side and press both hands ‘together’. Slide both hands lightly over the wall, in sync and exactly not in sync.

Keep caressing. Enjoy every smallest bit of the wall.

5

Wall Sex II Hurray, Andrea Fraser Grab the round walls on the ground floor to the right of the main entrance.

Spread your arms wide open, grab as much of it as possible. And even more.

Feel the tension within your wide reaching hug. Think of the wall as part of a huge body. Start playing with the pressure of your finger tips. Later, lift one leg and write a name with your foot on the wall, carefully, but with dedication.

6

Pillar Hug Holy moly guacamole, all you beautiful hippies!

Alright, Marina Abramović, does it work out, Lady Gaga?

Hug the pillar on the second floor. Give it a good, warm, strong and long hug.

Close your eyes and count to 40, slowly.

Project yourself inside the pillar.

7

Hello Bruce Nauman, how do you do, Akio Suzuki Squeeze yourself into narrow corners, like, on the second floor, the corner of the cloakroom. Face the corner and stand very close to it. Touch both walls with your forehead and shoulders. Stay like this for at least one minute.

Slowly move your head out of the corner. Start really slowly to bounce back and forth. Consider the changes of the sound reflections as micro-changes.

Imagine your head being a huge ball racing through a space of moving molecules; think of a centimeter as a meter.

8

Nice to meet you, Dan Graham Go to any bathroom in the building and stand in front of the sink. Look straight at the reflection in the mirror.

Ignore yourself.

9

Check this, NSA Press your ear against the loge-door number 24.

Do this hard and light. And hard again.

Make some mental notes and leave.

24

10

Windows Stand in front of the big window on the first floor that looks out over the city. Find a spot to look out of the window in a way that the frames fit exactly the lines of the buildings behind. Once you found what you were looking for, hold this body posture for 10 seconds. Observe, how you become self-conscious.

11

Many Worlds In the hall behind the main entrance, go to the inside windows that split the new part of the building with this old part. Stand on the small strip of the floor that slopes very slightly downwards. Stand in a perfect 90 degrees angle to this plane of the slope.

12

Earth Hug Yoga greets Monty Python’s Street Climbing Lay on your belly on the floor of the entrance hall in the middle of the red carpet, arms wide spread. Press your ear at the floor, tightly. Slowly move your arms in half circles, concentrating on your finger tips.

13

Hiya! Gerhard Richter Walk down the stairs, as if you were in deep thought.

14

What’s up, Vito Acconci Look for a more or less private space.

Have an erotic moment by yourself.

15

IllustratIons Miriam Hempel (daretoknow.co.uk)

Projecto P! These scores are published in Performance na Esfera PĂşblica (Orfeu Negro, 2017)