Zihan Zhou

"Discomfort"

Section MS9, Daryan Knoblauch

Keywords: nature

The project discomfort questions the protocols and mechanisms through which a commonly shared notion of body comfort has been established via climate, materiality and bodily occupation. It’s spatial, material and symbolic relationships have been studied in order to provoke a debate on how our commonly shared perception of comfort harms us from exploring alternative ways of living together. The project is questioning the definition of “comfort” critically related to infrastructures, while also inviting audiences to explore the “undefined pleasure” with the rebuilt space. The final installation will challenge the preconceived image of “comfort” of infrastructures, investigates comfort’s relationship to aesthetics and the tension that occurs when an object can be visually or psychologically uncomfortable. The typology takes the inspiration from unusual body postures which refer to ballet gestures, through deconstructing, crushing and transforming the air ducts. The video will give the answer how performers explore pleasure through triggering a series of uncomfortable gestures. In the video, the installation will be presented as a transformable playground where performers explore the body limit and DIY their own body interactions: The tiresome bodily activations might stimulate hormone; A narrow and rugged space will be the perfect place to become lovers.