Artistic Research in Three Acts on Touch and Its Absence

The artistic research project Embodied Scores: Notes on the Absence of Touch was coordinated by the creators Nasia Fourtouni and Maria Papadopoulou, with the participation and co-creation of Nanti Gogoulou, Candy Karra, Elton Petri, and Katerina Chatzigeorgiou. The research focused on exploring the practice of choreographic scores as a choreographic, methodological, and pedagogical tool, with special attention to their relationship with touch and its absence.

Created during the pandemic era of increased distancing, alienation, and restrictions on tactile contact, the research seeks ways to activate emotional and bodily connection through choreographic writing and sensory engagement. Its central goal is to contribute to the creation of community-based actions that strengthen the sense of unity, participation, and interconnectedness with others.

The research unfolded in three stages:

• Theoretical preparation, study, and exchange of tools.

• In-person rehearsals, conducted as workshops with collective experimental processes.

• Completion through audio material, culminating in the work Tactile Interview Homeversion.

  
  

Tactile Interview

Tactile Interview is a dialogic choreographic score designed for one performer and one participant. At its core lies the concept of tactility and the experience of touch — or its absence. Through questions, interactions, and interview forms, participants are invited to explore the body, their relationship with the other, and the performative dimension of dialogue. The score can be performed with or without physical contact, allowing space for each participant’s needs, desires, and possibilities, with an emphasis on consent and dialogue.

Keywords:

multisensory experience, interaction, dialogue, inversion, embodiment, witnessing as participation.

Process as a Field of Research and Care

The research’s interest goes beyond the aesthetic or performative level, extending to the modes of production and the relationships formed within it. Drawing on tools from contemporary pedagogy, somatic practices, and embodiment, we approach artistic creation as a field of democratic dialogue, care, and therapeutic orientation. Through a stance of active listening, we propose the choreographic score as a tool that can function participatively, horizontally, and facilitative, both in the creative process and in the dissemination of the experience.

This project was realized with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture.