• Kampe / McHugh / Münker (2022) JDSP Vol 13.1 & 2 'Embodying eco-consciousness: Somatics, aesthetic practices and social action'
• Kampe / McHugh / Münker (2022) Embodying eco-consciousness: Somatics, aesthetic practices and social action'
• Hug / Mainz / Münker / Zahn (2022) Three choreographic-somatic approaches to environmental research
This joint contribution by four members of Areal_Berlin approaches the topic of this Special Issue by presenting three individual but related strands of practice by dance and performance artists who specialize in working in urban and rural landscapes. The focus in each of the three contributions is on how somatic practices are employed as a means to sensitize bodies in relation to the environment and how those practices are (re-)designed in order to meet the specific demands of outdoor work. In the first part of the article, Joa Hug introduces Areal_Berlin as an association of research-oriented artists and as a habitat that has fostered the development of the three different artistic practices. In the second part, Bettina Mainz, Katja Münker and Sabine Zahn outline key aspects of their choreographic-somatic approaches to environmental research. The third section is a posed ‘interview’ and looks at possible connections between the three different choreographic-somatic approaches and the notion of ‘eco-consciousness’.
• Münker, K. (2019) Understanding understanding! / Feldenkrais Research Journal ' Volume 6 Practices of Freedom: The Feldenkrais Method and Creativity
• Münker, K. (2017) Body Intelligence – Individual & Social Potentiality / Emerging Thoughts from a Festival, Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices, Volume 9 Issue 1: Bodily undoing: Somatics as practices of critique, DOI: 10.1386/jdsp.9.1.121_1
Abstract: In October 2015, the Somatic Academy Berlin (SAB) hosted the first BODY IQ Festival. The festival was dedicated to the experience, exchange and research of body intelligence from the perspectives of various somatic approaches. Its main focus was the social relevance of somatic practices and of body intelligence. The festival-viewpoint considered that the practice of somatics supports the development of intelligent skills and knowledge based on the experience of the conscious body. It suggests that these human capacities are not only relevant for individual development but also for application within social-cultural contexts. Practitioners, teachers and participants were invited to further explore and research the potential of the relation between body intelligence, somatic methods and social impact. In order to develop a shared understanding of somatic knowledge beyond existing methods it is important to develop common terminology including a definition of ‘body intelligence’. To do so, I begin this reflection with a clarification of the term body intelligence as it is used here. I then provide an overview of the festival format, the workshop contents, and the panel discussion. I finish with a reflective summary on the relevance of the festival and the social potential of somatic research and body intelligence.
• Münker, K. (2016) Verstehen verstehen - Ein kompositorischer Text über die Leiblichkeit des Verstehens aus der Perspektive der Feldenkrais Methode und der Improvisation/Instant Composition, Research Article in ‚Intercorporeity, Movement and Tacit Knowledge – Zwischenleiblichkeit und bewegtes Verstehen‘, publisher: Undine Eberlein, transcript, ISBN 978-3-8376-3579-9
Abstract: Ein kompositorischer Text über die Leiblichkeit des Verstehens aus der Perspektive der Feldenkrais Methode und der Improvisation/Instant Composition. In dieser Textarbeit stelle ich Bewegungs- und Wahrnehmungsaufträge in Anlehnung an die Feldenkrais Methode neben Auszüge aus der Lecture on Nothing von John Cage und neben Zitate u.a. von Moshé Feldenkrais, Maurice Merleau-Ponty und Christopher Dell und verwebe diese mit eigenen Essays. So entsteht ein Feld, ein Geflecht, in dem sich – vielleicht – ein Verständnis bilden kann für das, was wir mit unserer körperlichen und emotionalen Intelligenz tun, um zu verstehen, was wir tun, wenn wir verstehen, bzw. wenn es uns nicht gelingt zu verstehen.
• Ehrhardt / Münker (2015)Bewegen, Spüren, Synchronisieren – Der Einfluss somatischer Methoden auf den Tanz, Essay, Tanzraum Berlin Magazin 8/9 2015, ISSN 2193-8520
• Münker, K. (2012) Emergence of form: A recollection, Research Article, Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices 3: 1-2, pp. 111-115(5), DOI: dx.doi.org/10.1386/jdsp.3.1-2.111_1
• Münker, K. (2010), ‘A continuous experiment and a continuous finding: A reflection on choreography, somatic practice and the aesthetics of change and conditions, Written from practice, Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices 2: 2, pp. 161–174, doi: 10.1386/jdsp.2.2.161_1
Abstract: A reflection on choreography, somatic practice and the aesthetics of change and conditions, Written from practice' Abstract: In this article, I share insights from my choreographic practice. Through creative and reflective texts and photographs, I intend to create a connective field of knowledge, which supports the discussion and development of choreographic strategies based on somatic practice and the associated aesthetic implications. My main interests are the act of decision making in choreographic processes that operate neither with set movement material nor set aesthetics, and the strategies of navigation in creative processes based on somatic practice. I therefore reflect on the possibilities of non-verbal thinking and the role of imagination. I am interested in the use of somatic practices throughout a creative process. I thus refer less to the first phases of research of movement materialand more on the overall process and requirements of a creation that enables sensuous sense-making and embodied communication, experience, knowledge and reflection. In the end, I am interested in the social relevance of this kind of art and aesthetics.
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