SIGNALS
SIGNALS, a project by _.mootpoint, is a site-specific dance performance set within an extended reality (XR) environment, where the exploration of gendered body postures and their societal implications takes center stage. The project questions the cultural codification of gestures and postures, challenging the societal preconceptions about gendered movements and seeks to disrupt the norms by deconstructing and reconstructing the gestures within a virtual environment.
SIGNALS premiered at the 48 Stunden Neukölln Festival in Berlin in June 2024.
The central questions of SIGNALS revolve around the intersection of gender, body language, and virtual space.
Are there postures reserved for a specific gender? Can gestures be freed from their cultural attachments to gender, becoming truly neutral in meaning? How do these embodied movements reinforce or challenge patriarchal structures?
Fusing choreography with immersive XR technology (Unity3D and TouchDesigner) and experimental soundscapes (Reaper, Max/MSP), the project approach to gender discourse translates real-world gestures into an experience blurs the line between the physical and virtual, creating a space where social norms tied to body language can be questioned and reinterpreted.
SIGNALS situates the body within a postdigital performance space, where physical and virtual realities are inseparable. Leveraging XR, it presents an immersive, interactive environment in which reconstructed postures circulate beyond traditional gender norms. By relocating gestures from everyday contexts into digitally mediated space, the project renders their meanings fluid, inviting participants to reconsider how embodied movement, technology, and spatial design co-construct perceptions of gender.
SIGNALS merges postdigital dramaturgy and posthuman theory to question how gendered gestures are culturally coded and surveilled through the gaze. By reimagining the body in relational and posthuman terms, SIGNALS transforms gestures into sites of critical inquiry, where identity and power are negotiated in immersive postdigital space.
About _.mootpoint
_.mootpoint is a Berlin-based collective founded in 2019 by Fanis Gioles (sound, programming, performance), Anthoula Bourna (stage design and visuals) and Anna Syrianou (stage design, visuals, management). Their work focuses on themes related to society, gender, body, memory and identity. They pursue an interdisciplinary practice that encompasses art production, curating and cultural management. Their projects include performative elements, sound design, augmented realities and visual art. For the SIGNALS project, they collaborate with Berlin-based dancer/choreographer Ageliki Gouvi and the dramaturg Dimitra Thomaidou.