Spending several years in various departments enabled me a long-term development of research on the human body and mind in relation to the environment we inhabit. By responding to thematics that regard drastic shifts in the era of the Anthropocene I propose models of living in a balance with new developments in technology and culture. I analyze the permeable relation between the Self and the Group on historical and anthropological examples of isolation and group behavior. My work is influenced by my German, Polish and Lithuanian roots that were marked by the trauma of sociopolitical events. As my grandfather and father both had to flee their countries of origin due to political problems, I was particularly compelled to dedicate myself further to sociopolitics and the recent refugee crisis. My dissertation Reclaiming the alienated Self (2017), published on LABS, elaborates on the importance of rhizomatic and creative actions for the well-being of the ever changing society. This experimental research is activated through, among others, my workshops with performers at Tate Exchange (2017, 2018) and the upcoming Refugee Week Berlin, which is related to the ongoing project that was started by Counter Point Artsin 1998. These creative projects allow room for new constellations between participants and the audience, to acknowledge similarities, instead of differences, and to understand the relation between hierarchical systems in the body, mind and society.

Researcher: Monika Dorniak