listening sessions
dance performance
premiere: June 2025 Teatro San Materno, Ascona
upcoming performances in Fall 2025 in Berlin and Switzerland
In October and November 2025 the work will be further developed and adapted to dock digital space.
The piece is developing a choreographic language based on somatic deep listening. the 8 channel sound system at dock digital is the compositional instrument that is used for the spatial sound composition, synthesizing perceptions of space,sound and movement.
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DISFIGURE/EUPHORIA is a spatialized multichannel audio/visual installation and dance performance in 4 scenes. The work explores the trauma of the separation between humans and nature and the healing potential of ecological awareness by mapping landscapes choreographically, acoustically and visually, weaving new mythologies of the land through the lens of the sensuality of living bodies.
“in the shadows beneath branches and scars" is the first scene of the project that premiered in June 2025. The work continues to evolve the methodology and aesthetic of an interdisciplinary workflow between sound, dance, mapping technologies and visual art to different spatial settings.
“In the shadows beneath branches and scars” maps an intricate, layered forest landscape
shaped by landslides. The dancing body, in its fluid, empathetic nature, becomes a medium to communicate with forms of being in the more-than-human world and establishes a presence of radical sensitivity. The sensorial journey travels between the micro and macro cosmos of the forest, revealing the complex beauty created by elemental forces continuously transforming landscapes that speak to, through and of the observer.
From the realm of the multisensory/feeling body, narratives emerge that weave associative landscapes in which an individual self is experienced in its embeddedness in the continuum of the world/cosmos axis. The dancing body is mapping physical and psychic landscapes, diving deep into the perceptive realms of the sensuous, sensory and suprasensory. It is a study of reciprocity in ecology and perception, with landscapes as its sensitive interface.
co-produced by Teatro San Materno and Dock_11_digital
supported by: Teatro San Materno Ascona, Kulturförderung Graubünden, Gemeinde Bregaglia, Schweizerische Interpretenstiftung, Crowdfunding
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Tanja Saban is a dancer, choreographer, multidisciplinary artist, educator, and movement coach. Born in Switzerland, she grew up surrounded by nature and in close proximity to the Alps. She began her dance training in St. Gallen with classical ballet, continued at age 16 in Zurich, and completed the SEAD program for contemporary dance in Salzburg in 2007. With a sponsorship grant from Tanzquartier Wien, she began her career as a freelance dancer, educator, and artist. She works across disciplines, including sound art, fashion/costume design, and digital art. Her works have been presented in Austria, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, and New York City, among other places.She is co-founder of D'FRAC, a platform for immersive dance floors at the intersection of club culture, performance, and somatics. She is also part of DOCK11_Digital in Berlin, where she develops performance and workshop formats between art and technology. Her project "Third Space Lab" explores the intersection of spatial sound and dance through somatic deep-listening practices. As a teacher of the Gaga movement language and her own methods, she teaches internationally, including at Zurich University of the Arts, Tanzcompagnie Bern, DART Dance Company Berlin, Staatsballett Berlin, and Tanzhaus Zürich. Her somatic process, "Sensory Soulbody," promotes the connection of body and mind through embodied learning and creative practice. At the center of her artistic work is the exploration of the moving body through dance and somatics, with a focus on perception and embodiment. She understands art as a process of insight and the body as a space for experience and expression. Her creative approach links physical intelligence with individual and collective healing.
Jojo Schütt works in the fields of text, sound, experimental dramaturgy, and their intersections. A current focus lies on techniques for the radical transformation of sound to create specific textures and structures that work on a deep sensory level, presented in live music contexts, installations, performances, or other audiovisual formats. Jojo’s projects engage with theoretical concepts such as new materialism, technological discourses, and posthuman infrastructures, translating their influences into immersive sound worlds. These often involve multichannel sound design and somatically inspired synthesis techniques that create simultaneously sensual and unsettling experiences, activating both spaces and bodies. In recent years, Jojo has participated in numerous collaborative projects and worked as a sound designer, technician, dramaturg, and author for installation and performance formats. Jojo's musical work appears under the name Justin, a live music project that oscillates between noisy, acousmatic, and computer music-inspired terrains. Jojo is also part of the duo Init.Play with Enrika Myskovskaja; together they explore forms of interactive sound design and signal processing in live contexts. Jojo collaborated with Tanja Saban on her project THIRD SPACE LAB.
Matthias Vollmer is an architect (MSc ETH Arch) with a film education from ZHdK (BA Film). His specialization in audiovisual media includes techniques ranging from analog photography and filmmaking to laser scanning technology. The aesthetic of his work emerges from the precision of his observation: he systematically refines models and the three-dimensional movements of the virtual camera, continuously exploring the relationship between space and time in four dimensions.
Johannes Rebsamen is an architect (MSc ETH Arch) with additional training in Geographic Information Systems (CAS ETH SIS). His continuous work with visual media and deep engagement with questions of representation and installation have sharpened his sensitivity to the specific demands of content and technology. His strong conceptual thinking and persistent approach result in particularly impactful media works.
Dennis Häusler is an architect (MSc ETH Arch) and joined the team in 2018. At Scanvision and as a research assistant at ETH Zurich, his technical skills and tireless curiosity have enabled him to develop new aesthetic approaches to viewing data—always with attention to compositional aspects. His analysis and representation of space through digital models continuously lead to new methods, techniques, and innovative applications.
Tatiana Carbonell (she/her) is a historian and researcher. She investigates infrastructure projects from the early 19th century in the Alpine region of Switzerland, combining landscape, technology, and science history. She is currently pursuing a PhD at ETH Zurich at the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture (gta) and the Institute for Landscape and Urban Studies (LUS). Her research is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), among others.
Tatiana explores how landscapes are perceived and narrated through technological projects. Using cultural, technological, and science-historical approaches, she analyzes their impact on our understanding of materiality. Through artistic collaborations, she expands historical narratives and merges scientific methods with artistic research to open up new perspectives on landscapes