Stimguage. The Lost Language of Stimming

Hakemuksen tiivistelmä

STIMGUAGE is a performative research project exploring stimming as an embodied language. My goal is to create stimming vocabulary and tools for teaching and sharing this language with others. Stimming is neurodivergent practice of repeating sounds or movements. In the past it was perceived as unhealthy antisocial behavior: as kids were forced to unlearn it. For a few years now the views on stimming are changing. We know that stimming is important for wellbeing of neurodivergent humans – it helps to regulate emotions and process sensory input. But there is still no consensus about what stimming really is. One of those new perspectives sees stimming as a language – way of connecting and communicating with human and nonhuman entities. It is a language that many neurodivergent adults lost through process of socialising to neuronormative culture. With this project I want to rediscover this language, describe it and develop some tools to share it with others. I perceive stimming not only as a language but also as embodied, improvised choreography with generative scores. There is a lot of creative energy in stimming language. In this project I would like to explore this creativity, both in terms of performative and relational potential. I am interested in the dynamics of what I call "stimming in" and "stimming out" – a process of receiving and giving, listening and speaking – which can be both conscious and involuntary, like breathing. Within the two months of the residency I would like to develop stimming vocabulary, scores and tools. I want to test it together with other residents in form of labs/workshops. I hope this residency will give me a strong research base for future work around stimming and neurodiversity/neuroqueerness. As the outcome I hope to have a set of resources that I will be able to use while creating future performance pieces, working with communities and offering workshops.