Washing Away Your Gaze

The performance *Washing Away Your Gaze* is a choreography of gazes in a public shower. What gazes are exchanged, who is looking at whom, who looks away, who holds their gaze? How can mutual observation give rise to a shared vision of solidarity – and how can shame, competition and powerlessness be transformed into a communal space of self-empowerment beyond patriarchal constructs?

The project explores how the public circulation and media coverage of reports and documents relating to violence affect FINTA* people’s self-perception, body image and everyday lives.

In a discussion session to follow, we’d like to invite you to join us for some soup and a guided exchange: How do you feel when you hear news of gender-based violence or cases of abuse? What influence and what consequences do they have on how you’re treated in your daily life?

Given the speed at which we receive news about violence against women* and queer people, it seems almost impossible to process these events, both socially and individually; yet they do not leave us unscathed. Our aim is to create a space for reflection on the shifting nature of this public discourse. With this project, we want to fill a gap and encourage people to share with one another what these events trigger within them and how this violence affects our lives.

Structural violence is an issue that concerns us all and that we must tackle together. The performance and the guided discussion are open to everyone.

Try-out: The performance was rehearsed in a short space of time and is a work in progress that will be further developed.

By and with: Martha Benedict, Hanna Holzner, Dora Musola, Laura Leupi, Franziska Baumeister, Ruby Betulius, Viccy Link

Trigger warning: The performance contains nudity. It explores the experience of sexualised violence.