Lyn Bentschik on presence and vulnerability

Editor Coucou Kulturmagazin

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Creating art with one's own body – that is what Lyn Bentschik does. Lyn performs her own works both inside and outside Switzerland. Lyn's works were awarded the City of Winterthur's sponsorship prize in 2024. I want to know from Lyn what such a prize changes and what happens when the body becomes a tool.

On a rainy autumn day, Lyn tells me what it means to create art with your own body over oat cappuccino and overnight oats. We sit in a quiet courtyard, between us a red metal table that rattles when we kick it with our legs. "During my dance studies, I trained my body in a relatively classical way as an instrument for movement and choreography. That's one approach to using the body to create art through dance. Nowadays, I would take a much broader view," says Lyn.

Lyn studied contemporary dance performance in Stockholm and then choreography at the ZHdK, but at some point moved on from dance to performance. These performances break with the traditional understanding of art in that they do not necessarily involve a predetermined sequence of dance steps on a stage, but convey a message about freer and more everyday movements, sometimes even about the absence of movement. At Jungkunst 2023, Lyn presented herself in a glass box wearing different costumes to draw attention to the numerous roles we all take on every day and to highlight the judgements associated with this external presentation.

Lyn has become particularly well known for her long-term performances with the world-famous artist Marina Abramović, some of which last several days and are physically and emotionally demanding. In these and Lyn's own works, silent presence is part of the performativity: being present with oneself and with everything that is. Listening. This is not easy and not always pleasant. Without moving much externally, but in intense contact with what is moving internally – this is how Lyn creates art with the body: "I began to understand that it's not about what you do, but rather how you do it. How you are in contact with yourself and manage to be in contact with others in this contact with yourself."

The audience senses a vulnerability when watching this process on stage. In a society where there is so little room for vulnerability, many are attracted to it, says Lyn. Performance creates a context in which one can dare to be vulnerable together with others. Being present on site is a confrontational experience for the audience. What they are watching looks back at them: "I always work with the material that the audience gives me back. I feel the people." Lyn has found that the audience wants this kind of relationship. They have a need to be seen. At the same time, this confrontation can give rise to unpleasant feelings, for example when they feel they simply cannot escape it: "Sometimes people are terribly stressed and really upset." Lyn prefers it when people stay and expose themselves to their unpleasant feelings, lingering with them. "You then go through an evolution together, and it's really wonderful when someone takes the time to do that."

Working with the body means investing in the body – maintenance costs, so to speak. Because grants and fees are always tied to specific projects, they do not include money for a studio, holidays, time for new creative ideas or childcare. There is no room for relaxation in the precisely calculated budgets. The grant Lyn received from the city of Winterthur is a rarity: "It's not often that you get money for yourself and your work that you don't have to justify or request for something specific – it's a huge luxury!" The money awarded means that Lyn can pay for everything that is part of this work with the body and is not otherwise remunerated. Art is often seen as something creative and less as physical work. For Lyn's work, however, it is essential to pay attention to the body as a whole, even if this is not seen as part of the work. "The maintenance costs are there, I just have to pay them, otherwise I can't work with my instrument. If my body is in bad shape, I can't make good art either."

To a certain extent, all performers or professional athletes in general are dependent on their bodies. It has to do what is expected of it; careers and livelihoods depend on it. There is often a fear that at some point it might no longer function. When I ask Lyn if she has such fears, she responds with a counter-question: What does 'function' mean? The Western idea of a dichotomy between body and mind that shapes us goes hand in hand with the demand for domestication; the wild body must be tamed by the mind: "You have to teach the body dance steps, you have to press the body into the ideal, it must be slim, it must be beautiful, it must not be hairy." But there are many other ways to dance, move and be with your body. Lyn's concern is that judgements should be dissolved. How much could we learn if we didn't ask what the body can do, but how it feels and what it needs? Being present with what is and seeing the creative potential behind change. "I strongly advocate that not some bodies are good and others bad. I would like us all to be able to approach our own bodies, but also other bodies that fall a little outside the norm, with less fear and more curiosity," says Lyn. And: "We can learn so much from our bodies if we learn how to listen and how to perceive ourselves. The body is a rich world that is constantly changing – a book in which new pages are written every day." How exciting it would be to simply listen to the body?

Experience Lyn Bentschik live:

27 February 2026 Dance your Pain, Wild Card Pain Edition, Tanzhaus Zurich 14 March 2026 Collective Rhythms of Pain, Sharing, DOGO Lichtensteig
12 April 2026 Dance your Pain, Wild Card Pain Edition, Dampfzentrale Bern
7 May 2026 Dance your Pain, Festival Zürich Tanzt, Tanzhaus Zürich
9 May 2026 Dance your Pain, Festival Zürich Tanzt, Gessnerallee Zürich
10 May 2026 Workshop Dance your Pain, Tanzfest St. Gallen

lynbentschik.com

The article appeared in December 2024 in the print edition of the cultural magazine Coucou.

Text: Lynn Vellacott studies history and often thinks about other things too. Photo: Lea Reutimann is an advertising photographer from Winterthur who loves to realise photographic projects with artists between her day jobs.

Published from Coucou Kulturmagazin on February 19, 2026.