dull blade 1000 cuts
cut out/cut in, cut into two, cut into one
23.9.25
23.9.25
15:00 - 17:00
Thoravej 29, 2400 Copenhagen NW
19:30 Surbending_Black box
Participation in the event is FREE, but please reserve a ticket as seats are limited. You can book your ticket here:
the artistic research
The research is rooted in the 13 fundamental principles of Wudang sword. Asking howmartial arts techniques internal practice can bring embodied knowledge to a contemporary urgency of becoming a warrior.
It is a practice that cultivates the unification of mind, body and blade, and for the sword to be an extension of the practitioner’s consciousness, a conduit for Qi.
Being in times of fragmentation and confusion, how can the body and attention take the shape of the blade? and what kinds of in-between spaces exist from the fragmented, blurred states to the sharp states – how is this translated into form, movement, sound, light and words? what figures of the warrior can be visited and inhabited in this territory?
The artists
What particularly excites the artists is that each of them brings an interdisciplinary way of working and thinking. They have committed themselves to staying with ‘not knowing’/’not defined’ and with incongruent elements to vibrate with one another. As they are curious to discover how their respective practices and engagement in resistance and warriorness will resonate, juxtapose and make up creative modalities.
Concept, sound and performance: mei bao
Llight: gretchen blegen
Dramaturgy: kai merke
Mei Bao
Mei Bao (they/them) is a danish-chinese performer/dancer/musician/producer, who works in the in-betweens; both interdisciplinarily and with artmaking as both technical virtuosity and amateurist and accessible. They work through neverending translations between artistic practices, and seek to weave together life, politics and art through consistent practice that informs body memory, state work…
Kai Merke
Kai Merke (he/him) is a choreographer, dancer, and dramaturg specializing in interdisciplinary collaborations and transformative performance experiences. Kai integrates somatic embodiment, ecological awareness, and decolonial approaches in their artistic practice. With rigorous dramaturgical insight and embodied methods, kai seeks to dismantle experiences of alienation and cultivate deeper connections with our living environment.
Gretchen Blegen
Gretchen Blegen (any) is an interdisciplinary thinker working with light, sound, and image. their work converses with anti-extractivist thinking, rooted in a desire to shift the gaze away from the surface and move towards the affect of slippages, resonance, and ricochets. these mediums are experienced through both collaborative and collective practices of listening and hosting, through craft, and through social engagement and activism.
The residency
IN PROCESS is HAUTs 1-2 week long residency format that makes space for physical brainstorms supporting the investigation and the development of new ideas for the stage.
This group of artists has been invited into residency through an internal curatorial process based on previous application for an open call.