​ sonic embodiment

a recap of the artist talk with Hilde Onis (nov 17 '23)

by our reporter: Violeta Gamino Romero

22 november 2023

 

eva susova’s voice echoed through het resort

reminding of the uncertain and unfolding narrative she could arrive with:

 

in this moment

“the only thing we knew is that there was courage and curiosity that

either equalise or even surface the levels of fear,”

letting those present embrace her challenge.

 

to eva,

not-knowing is a generative process,

and embodiment

where imagination and knowledge grow,

as well as the awareness of ourselves.

 

as a choreographer and visual artist

influenced by

unconventional

post-modern dancing,

 

eva’s present time project is interested in

somatics in

the female voice

and in what cannot be dissected or 'cognitised.'

 

 

With a variety of materials

    - ceramics, metal, organic things, sound, and her own corporeal presence -

         she creates and tries to project embodied knowledge:

             histories, traumas, the intricate relationship we have with our bodies.

                 guided by questions that birth movement,

                     she draws inspiration from bodies (minds) like Deborah Hay.

 

 

in spaces like ‘there are wounds who emanate voice’

eva creates

environments

inviting people to engage with their bodies by stimulating self-listening

interacting with sounds created by the feedback of their actions.

 

these resonances weave through projects like

‘resonant instruments’,

influenced by writers like

-Silvia Federici-

who inspired her to amplify the voices

embedded within our own bodies.

 

 

within ‘cavity’, a wooden companion that became an art piece,

she gave voice to those mistreated trees

where humans took away their capability to grow and move freely,

making a space in which individuals interwave with sound emissions when interacting with it.

 

in the unique performance of ‘the hand on a lower belly’ (June 2023),

she seamlessly transformed into an extension of a cello,

sharing a profound exchange with a fellow performer and friend Publik Universal Frxnd

while playing.

the focus was placed on

exploring the vulnerabilities

of the human form,

delving into the bodily memories,

and ultimately metamorphosing

into their very own expressive voice.

 

she experimented cultivating ‘fungi’ - the omnipresent architects of life, emphasizing with this work that every void is enchanted, for nothing is truly empty.

Klaudija posed a question: “how does silence sound?”

                                            - it does not exist therefore it sounds.

 

her last shared artwork, ‘symbiotic symphony’,

uses healing frequencies for a sound composition,

reflecting the glass ceiling

in the sound

for performers who,

collaborating with space and objects,

conjure voices.

 

in five movements, eva guides these performers to commune with their own presence.

in the resonant aftermath of eva susova’s time at het resort,

she invited us to embrace the vulnerabilities of our own existence

by mainly participating in the act of listening,

and lingering a profound truth

- that within the art of uncertainty, we can find signs for re-orientation.

 

––––––

 

about

Violeta Gamino Romero (2000, Spain) is currently studying Curatorial Studies (University of Groningen, Art History)

 

eva susova is an interdisciplinary artist working with performance, sound and sculpture. Her artistic practice is rooted in the study of embodied knowledge, the history of a female voice and ecology. She strives to interrogate existing concepts and categorisations perpetuating forms of oppression by actively listening and decomposing as a methodology for transformation.

“I like to think of my works as fungi, the catalysts of the toxicities defining our current moment.”

She understands her artistic practice as a space of radical imagination of queer ways of living, becoming and relating.

 

eva obtained MA in Fine Arts at Sandberg Institute and BA in Choreography at the SNDO at Amsterdam University of Arts. Her works and collaborations have shown in various venues, among many RongWrong (NL), bologna cc. (NL), Het Restort (NL), Arti et Amicitae (NL), Uferstudios Berlin (DE), STAMM studios Porentruy (CH), Veem House for Performance (NL) and Forum für Kunst Heidelberg (DE).

She is an alumnus of Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam (2021-2023). Eva has been teaching multiple workshops focusing on somatic practices and performance at academies such as Gerrit Rietveld and Sandberg Instituut Amsterdam (NL), AKI Enschede (NL), ArtEZ Zwolle (NL), SNDO- the school for new dance development in Amsterdam (NL).

In 2017 they co-founded Jacuzzi, an artist-run space at the crossroads of performance, visual arts, and time-based media in Amsterdam.

evasusova.org