21:21: Safe Chemistry

The play "Safe Chemistry" was initially produced as part of the "Stronger Peripheries: A Southern Coalition" project.

Within the pursuit of happiness, "Safe Chemistry" explores the patterns of friction and reactivity between intentional actions versus performance control, creating a context of enabled performer and audience choices. The question of control in the artistic process, which this diptych connects into one whole, refers to the constant change of parameters, ingredients and spices that shape the conditions of viewing and participating in the performance in a surprising way. The idea of ​​joint intervention connects the conventional performance space with a more intimate gathering space around the table through recognizable details such as objects, food, clothing, music or the identity of the performer.

What does "Safe Chemistry" mean to us? It is a safe process, reaction or product in the field of chemistry, in the field of cooking, but also in the recognition of chemistry between people. Chemistry that can uncontrollably take us into the field of magical feelings, actions and thinking.

"21°C"
Because I don't know... I don't know, but I'm here with the question of what is work for me and what is happiness for me. I don't need to answer with knowledge or words, but I want to experience, feel, listen, experience and finally ask. I wonder how it is that we are all made of carbon atoms and it is only created in the core of a star? How is it that dopamine in us always wants more and how is it that without it there would be no creation, dreams and progress? And if dopamine is not a molecule of pleasure but a molecule of anticipation, where does what we are waiting for come from? How does the concept of desire differ from the concept of satisfaction? What are the conditions in which this chemical reaction succeeds? Who and how lives at 21°C? In that perfect milk and honey climate and society where one gets to question happiness... Do perfect conditions really create pleasure? Is love pleasure? If I were to list all the most famous gods of love, would there be 21 of them? Cupid, Eros, Amor, Aphrodite, Venus, Hathor, Freya, Kamadeva, Xochipilli, Inanna, Ishtar, Aine... I don't know, but I am. There in front of you in this equation in which I feel the conditions but don't understand the reactions. Sometimes they are abrupt, dry, quiet and sometimes not…

“Dinner for 21”
is a place of laboratory of social practices that explores how a normal dinner for 21 participants can develop into a performance format. During the dinner, the audience is given an active role in initiating the plot, and in a moderated dialogue, personal details and themes communicated by all participants are revealed. The gathering of family and friends around the table can be defined as a magical encounter, rare and short-lived. In this performance, we invite participants to the table who do not necessarily know each other. Can random dinner guests initiate rituals inherent in the joint consumption of food, where dynamic interpersonal relationships are usually established?

Safe Chemistry 202482 photos