SOCIAL COLDNESS / SOCIAL WARMTH

10. November 2024, 14 – 18h, Toscana Park, Gmunden

It's getting cold outside, so it's all the nicer to go into a hot sauna. However, the cold often stays inside us, no matter how warmly we heat up. In our society, general empathy doesn't exactly look good. We close ourselves off, stay in our bubbles and would rather have fun online than start a real conversation with strangers. Social isolation is a symptom of today's living conditions and has long since reached the countryside as well as the big cities. Contact between residents is not always better here, control often prevails over communication, and loneliness and marginalisation are just as prevalent here as in urban areas. Before the sauna closes for the season, we want to heat things up for all friends and new visitors to the floating sauna. So let's sit close together, rub our bodies and talk about utopias in which every coldness is overcome and we are always warm.

Gäste: Kinga Szemessy (AT/HU) and Napsugár Trömböczky (HU) von der SVUNG Research Group mit dem Projekt Cold Comfort / Kalter Komfort
Aud den Plattformen: Installation von Artist in Residence: João Gonçalo Lopes

By visiting Cold Comfort kann man erfahren, wie extreme Kälte und Wärme zu Lehrern werden können. Während man Interviews mit Expert*innen aus Bergsteigen, Eisskulpturkunst und experimenteller Gesundheitsforschung lauscht, stellt sich die Frage: Kann Entspannung durch Belastung erreicht werden? Diese bleibt offen. Die intensiven Wechsel zwischen den extremen Temperaturen eröffnen vielmehr eine Form der Meditation, die uns voll in den Moment eintauchen lässt. Hierbei löst sich das Ego auf und das „Öko“ tritt hervor – das Gefühl, sich angenehm unbedeutend und doch zutiefst lebendig im größeren Gefüge der Welt wiederzufinden.

The SVUNG research group, whose founding members include the artists of Cold Comfort, was established in 2019 and is led by dancers and Applied Theatre makers. They are also trained in permaculture, forest bathing, nature guiding and climbing and have lived with animals or in rural areas. After devising various arts education and participatory events in conventional theatre and studio settings, SVUNG decided to explore the non-anthropocentric potential of participatory art that involves all material beings, not just human communities.

Location: Toscana Park, Wittgenstein Allee
Click here for the Location

We would like to thank our cooperation partners!