atypische perspektiven
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atypical perspectives

Vorhaben
Im Rahmen des vierjährigen Vorhabens MULTIVERSE | atypische perspektiven setzt die compagnie O. den Fokus auf Neurodiversität. Spezifisch forscht das Künstler:innen-Team nach der Verkörperung neurodivergenter Weltbeziehungen, indem unterschiedliche Ebenen der Welt- und Selbstwahrnehmung sowie der Art, sich auf die Welt zu beziehen, choreografisch und performativ, in Körperlichkeit, Sinnlichkeit und Bildhaftigkeit erkundet werden.

Themen
Die inhaltlich-künstlerische Auseinandersetzung mit dem Themenfeld der Neurodiversität gründet auf vier Themen: Hyperfocus, Kommunikation des Unsagbaren, Instabile Weltbeziehungen und Groove als ein Modus des In-der-Welt-Seins. Diese Themen stehen für Aspekte neurodivergenter Weltbeziehungen auf unterschiedlichen Ebenen. Sie zeichnen einen roten Faden durch die Arbeitsperiode, indem sie einerseits jeweils zum Jahresfokus werden und andererseits stets inhaltliche und dramaturgische Querverbindungen, Relationen und Überschneidungen zwischen den Themen(feldern) gesucht und erarbeitet werden.
Das Thema Hyperfocus erforscht verschiedene Sinneswahrnehmungen und ihre Bedeutung für eine neurodivergente Weltbeziehung. Unter dem Titel Kommunikation des Unsagbaren rücken wir soziale Entfremdungserfahrungen in den Fokus. Das Thema Instabile Weltbeziehungen führt zu einer Auseinandersetzung mit der eigenen gefühlten, oftmals prekären Position in der Welt. Und Groove als ein Modus des In-der-Welt-Seins untersucht Bewältigungsstrategien.

Dringlichkeit & Motivation
Autismus, AD(H)S, Neurosensitivität und Hochsensibilität sind Ausdrucksformen eines atypisch funktionierenden Nervensystems, welches im alltäglichen Leben so viele Hindernisse wie Bereicherungen bereithält. Diese Abweichungen der Norm nehmen wir als Ausgangspunkt, um - nach innen wie nach aussen - neue Blickwinkel zu ermöglichen und zu fördern.
Das Vorhaben entsteht aus einem persönlichen Anliegen, denn ein Grossteil der compagnie O. ist auf dem breiten neurodivergenten Spektrum zu verorten. Intendiert wird, die Zuschauer:innen in den geplanten Formaten - u.a. Bühneninszenierungen, Video-Installationen, Publikationen - an neurodivergenten Wahrnehmungsweisen teilhaben zu lassen und diese zu erfahren. So strebt das Vorhaben Aufklärung und Advocacy bezüglich dem Themenfeld der Neurodiversität an.

Arbeitsphilosophie
Der Fokus auf Neurodiversität durchzieht alle Ebenen der Arbeit und zeigt sich in den Strukturen der Zusammenarbeit innerhalb des Teams, in den thematischen Schwerpunkten und der ästhetischen Handschrift, im Umgang mit Ressourcen sowie im Aufbau von Formaten des Sharings. Zur Prozessgestaltung und bei der teaminternen Kommunikation wenden wir die Methode der Gewaltfreien Kommunikation an, welche einen authentischen und bedürfnisorientierten Austausch ermöglicht.

Formate
Verhandelt werden die Themen in unterschiedlichen Formaten. Es entstehen Neukreationen und Re-Kreationen, produziert werden Formate in Off Spaces zur Erschliessung neuer Kontexte und es gibt das Sharing Format O.pen, um künstlerische Ideen, choreografisches Material und Praktiken der mit anderen Tanzschaffenden sowie Personen ausserhalb des Tanzfeldes zu teilen und Räume für Austausch und Begegnung zu eröffnen. Vorgesehen ist zudem eine künstlerische Publikation mit Texten, Bildern, Illustrationen und Reflexionen zum Thema Neurodiversität, welche sich für Inklusion neurodivergenter Menschen im Kontext der Performativen Künste ausspricht.
Angestrebt wird zudem ein Aufbau von Netzwerken um Ressourcen zu teilen sowie ein nachhaltiger Umgang mit materiellen wie immateriellen Ressourcen, u.a. durch Recycling als Grundprinzip der Arbeitsweise. Dabei werden sowohl Bühnenobjekte als auch Bewegungsmaterialien in unterschiedlichen Stücken wieder verwendet.

Kurz gesagt
Das vierjährige Projekt MULTIVERSE beschäftigt sich mit Neurodiversität. Neurodiversität bedeutet, dass Gehirne von manchen Menschen anders funktionieren. Die Gehirne verarbeiten Informationen unterschiedlich. Die Menschen der compagnie O. erforschen wie neurodivergente Menschen die Welt wahrnehmen und erleben. Sie untersuchen dabei vier Themen. Diese Themen werden in verschiedenen künstlerischen Formaten gezeigt. Alle Menschen sollen die Wahrnehmungen neurodivergenter Menschen verstehen können. 

Glossary 
In this glossary, we will collect terms and concepts that are important for the project ISLANDS and generally for our MULTIVERSE projects.

They will fit in one or more of these categories:

- theoretical knowledge about neurodiversity
- concepts developed by the neurodiversity movement
- other existing concepts that are integrated in the project
- terms that we developed together during the creative process

The glossary can be used for internal understanding (so we all know what we are talking about), but also for context formats, communication, program booklets, video essay(s), social media campaigns etc.

It will be a bit messy for a while and is meant to be a work in progress…


Neurodiversity
The concept of Neurodiversity was developed by the Autistic community. Its core idea is that humanity includes differently functioning brains and nervous systems, so it includes neurodivergent as well as neurotypical people. It is a response to the generally dominating ableistic and neuronormative world view.

It is also used as a term for concept, groups, etc. that actively includes both neurodivergent AND neurotypical people. So, we as compagnie O. are a neurodiverse group, because we have both neurodivergent and neurotypical member. Sometimes, it is (wrongly) used as description for non-neurotypical persons, though the right term for this would be neurodivergent.


Neurodivergent / Neurotypical
Neurotypical is what individuals are called whose brains and nervous systems function according to the norm. Neurodivergent are individuals whose brains and nervous systems function in an atypical way. The borders are not always clear - most often, “neurodivergent” includes functioning differences such as Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia, Synesthesia and Tourette (brain functioning differences existing from birth). In some theories, it includes things such as Depression, Anxiety, Personality Disorders, Schizophrenia, OCD and other mental illnesses as well as Down Syndrome. Additionally, it is commonly understood that HSP (High Sensitivity) is also part of the neurodivergent spectrum because it has been proven to be very close to Autism and ADHD: around 80% of people who label themselves as HSP are indeed on the Autism and/or ADHD spectrum or have at least sub-diagnostic traits (= Autistic traits that are deemed not strong or clear enough for an official medical diagnosis).

In our MULTIVERSE idea, we include mainly Autism, ADHD and HSP because the core idea is on traits that

- exist from birth and are present throughout life (in contrast to depressions who can come and go, or personality disorders who develop around teenage years and mostly come from traumatic experiences in childhood)
- are not to be understood as illness and can not be medically treated so they disappear nor create suffering per se (in contrast to e.g. OCD or Anxiety which can be treated and create suffering by itself)
- affect the whole personality and can not be separated from it (in contrast to Dyslexia, which “only” affect how the brain processes written language for example)
- are deemed “invisible disabilities”, meaning that it is not visible from the outside but the suffering arises from a neuronormative society that does not include or accomodate the ways our brains are functioning (in contrast to Down Syndrome which also includes physical differences)
Neuronormativity

Neuronormativity is the concept that there is a normative idea around how human brains and nervous system should function, which creates a frame for how the world is built and how social, political, professional, educational, medical, institutional and public norms are set. Neuronormativity can be seen everywhere and also includes the expectations we have around “normal behavior” as well as how public spaces are conceived or how processes are designed.

Some examples:


- having bright lights and background music in supermarket as a “normal” thing that is never questioned or the distance between seats in public transportation
- the often unquestioned interpretation of words and actions (meaning: people often think to know what a certain behaviour means and don’t take into account that there might be a totally different reason due to neurodivergent functioning)
- the expectation that some things are easy for everyone (such as making a phone call or having a meeting, paying bills, remembering names, having a feeling for time, being able to multitask or to quickly change focus, being able to talk, feeding ourselves etc.
- the expectation that everyone connects socially in more or less the same way and have a shared social language (see also Normativity of Connection)

Neuronormativity is at the root of Ableism against neurodivergent individuals. It affects everyone, neurotypical and neurodivergent people alike because the norms and patterns of thinking are so deeply rooted through education, world experience etc.


Masking
Masking refers to a way of acting, speaking, behaving that is designed to hide our spontaneous and authentic behavior. It can be temporary such as hiding an emotion in the moment it arises or stopping ourselves from saying something we want to say, or showing to the outside world that we are fine when we are actually not. It can also be long-term such as hiding a sensitive personality behind a tough behaviour.

While it is understood that everyone masks, it is seen differently in neurodivergent individuals because very often they were shamed for being different by parents, teachers etc. not for individual traits but for their whole being. From a feeling of being inherently “wrong” comes an urge to mask as a completely different person.

There is also a theory that neurodivergent people don’t necessarily mask more than neurotypical, but that for them it’s harder and more conscious, which takes up a lot of energy and is also connected to a lot of insecurity because they don’t have an intuition for what is actually expected, so they constantly feel like they have to re-evaluate their mask to be accepted. Common in Autistic individuals is also a sub-form of Masking that is called Mimicking and involves a strong urge to copy someone else’s behaviour.

It has also been proven that Autistic people generally are perceived as less sympathetic, accessible or trustworthy at first meeting. This can lead to social exclusion and an increased need for masking.


Double Empathy Problem
The Double Empathy Problem is a term from Autism research aimed at debunking the stereotype of Autistic people not being able to have empathy. It has been proven in sociologic experiments that Autistic people amongst each other have just as high or even higher empathy that neurotypical people, but sometimes lack empathy for neurotypical people, while neurotypical people also lack empathy for Autistic people. This means that the empathy problem is based on such differences in experience that make it hard for each group to understand each other.


Normativity of Connection
Normativity of Connection is a term I (Marie) developed for my own thinking and explaining. It is connected to Neuronormativity but includes specifically all normative expectations and norms around how human beings connect to each other.

Examples:


- how to show affection
- eye contact as a sign that we are connecting
- general norms concerning love, romantic relationships, partnerships and sexuality (including heteronormativity)
- expectations around intensity, frequency or content of contact and communication in friendships
- expectations around ways of communicating
- the expected meaning of certain actions, words, gestures in social interaction
- expectations around general social behaviors such as going to parties, doing small talk, shaking hands etc.


Stimming
Stimming is a term for repetitive actions of self-stimulation that are applied consciously or unconsciously for self-regulation of the nervous system. Everyone stims - clicking a pen, twirling hair, chewing gum, tapping a foot: these are very common stims that we can find everywhere if we know how to look for them. However, neurodivergent individuals tend to stim more and also it is much more essential as a self-regulation tool since the nervous system of neurodivergent people tends to be more sensitive and dysregulation happens more frequently and on a stronger scale.

Stimming can appeal to different layers of perception. There are for example:


- tactile stimming (following the edges of clothing with a finger, spending hours in the shower, playing or fidgeting with objects/toys, enjoying the feeling of hair or a scarf on your neck)
- auditive stimming (listening to the same song over and over again, enjoying the sound of waves or a waterfall, falling asleep to podcasts)
- vestibular stimming (rocking, jumping on a trampoline, being on a swing, riding a rollercoaster etc.)
- olfactory stimming (smelling someone’s hair or an object, going to a certain place just because it has a certain smell etc.)
- gustatory stimming (having “comfort food”, chewing gum)
- verbal stimming (repeating sentences or words - also called echolalia - singing or humming, making noises with our mouth like clicking etc.)
- visual stimming (looking at a lava lamp, watching a river flowing, painting your nails in a flashy color)
- intellectual stimming (doing sudoku, making a puzzle, solving problems, making plans, putting things in order)

Some activities can be multisensory stimmings such as cooking (tactile, olfactory, gustatory and intellectual), knitting (tactile and intellectual), sorting objects into categories or ordering bookshelves according to color (visual and intellectual stimming), cleaning, dancing, …


Sensory Approach
There is strong evidence that neurodivergent brains deal differently with sensory input than neurotypical brains. In fast, it is the most common trait within the broad neurodivergent spectrum. It is also connected to or often combined with a reduced or missing stimulus filtering ability.

My personal theory is that because of this, neurodivergent brains are more strongly connected to the world of the senses that to the world of human communication as a level of primary sense-making. This might mean that sensory needs are valued higher than social needs, or a breach of sensory boundaries might feel more intrusive or hurtful than a breaking of social expectations.


Attachement to things
There is strong evidence that neurodivergent people in general but specially Autistic people have a strong connection to things - sometimes stronger than to people. It might be connected to something which is called “personification of objects”, which can lead to for example not being able to give or throw stuffed animals or other objects away. Many neurodivergent people are considered to be “collectors” of some sort.

The reason for it might be connected to the concept of Sensory Approach.

Additionally, it is also possible that things are more predictable to humans and that, for many neurodivergent people, traumatic experiences might have led to feel that humans are not safe. Which might in turn lead neurodivergent children to develop stronger bonds to objects than to people.


Ableism
Ableism is a form of discriminatory belief system regarding disabilities comparable to belief systems such as Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Ageism etc.

“Ableism is a set of beliefs or practices that devalue and discriminate against people with physical, intellectual, or psychiatric disabilities and often rests on the assumption that disabled people need to be ‘fixed’ in one form or the other. Ableism is intertwined in our culture, due to many limiting beliefs about what disability does or does not mean, how able-bodied people learn to treat people with disabilities and how we are often not included at the table for key decisions.
Just like most forms of discrimination, ableism often shows its ugly face from nondisabled people with good intentions. Unfortunately, good intentions never solved any problems. So let’s put our good intentions aside and get to the root of what’s really going on. I believe much of ableism rests on the medical model of disability, in that we have first come to understand disability through the lens of a doctor- something is ‘wrong’ with this person and that ‘something’ needs to be fixed. This is how we are taught to think about disability.” (Quoted from: https://cdrnys.org/blog/uncategorized/ableism/)

Ableism is ingrained in our personal beliefs as well as in our society in the form of institutional discrimination. Since ableism is deeply rooted in our culture and passed on from parents, teachers, social and medical professionals, disabled individuals are not free from it either. When this belief system affects how we perceive and judge ourselves, we call it “internalized ableism”.


Disability
The term Disability has gone through different definitions in the last decades. While the label of “disabled individual” had for a while been replaced by terms such as “special needs” or “differently abled”, the term “disabled” has been reclaimed in the last two decades with a different connotation and theoretical framework.

Two models of Disability have been developed, the Medical Model and the Social Model of Disability.

The Medical Model of Disability refers to the older understanding as described in Ableism. In this belief system, Disability is looked at as something lacking, something that needs to be fixed, healed, adjusted, eradicated, hidden or compensated. It puts the weight of the difference on the Disabled Person.

The Social Model of Disability refers to a more modern understanding that a Disabled Person is actually BEING disabled/hindered by how society and the world functions. As an example: it is not a wheelchair users problem that they can’t reach certain spaces, but society’s problem that they didn’t build the space to be accessible.

While Autism is officially considered to be a Disability even in the framework of the Medical Model, ADHD is not: even though it is, just as Autism, medically categorized as a developmental disorder, ADHD is still considered more like a mental illness. If we look at the Social Model of Disability however, the possibilities for participation are restricted in similar ways, which would make ADHD a Disability as well. In any case, Ableism and Neuronormativity affects the way ADHD people are considered.


Identity First language
While within the Disability Rights movement there has been some discussions and different statements as to what wording is deemed most respectful, the probably most common knowledge is that “person with disability” is preferable to “disabled person”. The reasoning behind it is the so-called “person first language”, which implies that a person is more than just their disability. However, in the Autism movement, a majority prefers “identity first language”, so “Autistic person” instead of “person with autism”. The reasoning here is that Autism, in contrast to for example physical disabilities, is inherent to our personality and that we wouldn’t be who we are without the autistic traits.


Entrainment
„Entrainment“ refers to a process of synchronisation between two entities. Examples include the adaptation of biological rhythms to an external cycle (chronobiology), the entrainment of liquid or solid bodies by a fluid (physics), but also the alignment of two interaction partners in the course of communication (psycholinguistics) or the synchronisation of brain waves or physical processes such as breathing or heart rate to a musical rhythm.

For ISLANDS, we use this concept as a tool for synchronization (amongst the group of dancers and also between dancers and audience) and as a base for research on different ways of (non-normative) connection.


Emergence
In philosophy, systems theory, science and art, emergence occurs when a simple entity has properties or behaviours that its parts do not have on their own, and emerge only when they interact in a wider whole. (Quote: Wikipedia)

Many of our practices connect to this term in what I call “Emerging Compositions”, so choreographic and spatial compositions that arise through a process of improvisation with a certain task (e.g. the Peripheral Vision Score).


Chaotic Synchronisation
Chaotic Synchronisation is a term we started using to refer to a variation of our Emerging Composition idea specifically in the research for ISLANDS. It was inspired by physical phenomena such as the Triple Pendulum and the Solids of Constant Width. We use it as a base for compositional tools that seek a specific way of movement synchronization which involves synchronizing and desynchronizing (e.g. the synchronization in the Rocking Score). 

unterstützt von Stadt Zürich Kultur