NAHARA
How can we become more in tune with our surroundings? Our changing environment - increasingly affected by climate change, gentrification and digitalisation - has entered into a constant state of flux, and in order to navigate our way through it, we are in need of a deepened sense of awareness. Not only on a cognitive level, but on a physical level: with AI outperforming us in brainpower, the body is the tool-kit of the future.
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What kind of senses does the body possess? Cyborgs have started integrating extra senses into their bodies, making it possible to register the world’s earthquakes, monitor atmospheric pressure or turn colours into sounds. Can our bodies adopt extra-human capacities? We were born with five senses, and yet conditioned into prioritising one over the others - can this process be reversed? Apart from vision, our other senses - hearing, taste, smell and touch - and senses beyond those clinically recognised - kinaesthetic awareness, proprioception, balance and intuition - may just be the keys we need to unlock alternative modes of perception.
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NAHARA is a site-specific, mobile and interactive performance in which audiences, guided through headphones, are temporarily transported into the future. In the public domain of the street space, an imaginary landscape unfolds in which the senses of the audience are activated through simple tasks, seeking to sharpen observation skills and deepen the experience of space. The virtual and the real, normality and the ‘not-possible’ overlap in a training programme that poses the question: how do we prepare ourselves for destination unknown? In the face of daunting, fast-paced, planetary change, we need to be adaptable, flexible and agile, and able to exercise improvisation. Once the body is well equipped, we can face the storm without flinching from the horizon. 

CREDITS
​Text & performance: Beatrix Joyce
Performance collaborator: Michela Filzi
Sound design: III MAURY III
Mix & mastering: JP Ruby
Interface: Bartholomew Joyce
Technical support: Forough Fami
Outside eye: Aslan, Sergiu Matis
Photos: Elise Scheider & Joshua Iype 

​Presented at:
Let Me In Festival Berlin Friedrichshain, June 2019 
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