Resistant Proximity

Application summary

As I am not having any source of income right now, and I cannot develop my artistic work as I should be doing, I have decided to take this home residency as an authentic exercise of self-control, resistance, and as a source of creativity. I want to use this time as an opportunity to experiment and research on how I respond artistically in a situation in which I am forced to be isolated. I honestly think that being confined at home is nowadays an exercise of resistance. Our beliefs regarding freedom of movement, sense of security, certainty and control are being challenged and put at risk. In a country where people generally live in apartments which don't surpass 35-40 square meters (for those who can afford such big spaces), after having spent most of the winter indoors, when the spring has arrived, the temperature rises and the sun finally shines, being forced to stay at home, clearly tests one's own limitations, especially if you cohabit with others. Newsfeed, WhatsApp groups, remote meetings, Facebook, TV, calls, the fact of being constantly updated with the number of cases, with how the virus is spreading... all that, in my opinion, waters the soil that cultivates anxiety, FOMO (fear of missing out), and lack of focus and awareness of how to live in the present moment, and even how to face the future. All that being said, I want to explore and experiment with the concept of “stillness” and “intimate resistance”. Can one keep mental focus and stay still and centred when everything around you shakes the basis of one's world? Do we resist? How do we somatise this, how do our bodies process forced self-proximity when we can be close to others?