frontstage - audiencing

I found the term audiencing in Tanzquartier Wien - Centre for Contemporary Choreography and Performance (tqw.at) and I freely borrow it to explain how I perceive and offer to be an audience – as a practice that can be learned and unlearned, as part of the artistic effort and as something we do together. It is a verb. In this temporary collectivity, I choose to cultivate through somatic awareness playful and thought-provoking connections while creating spaces of exchange. My role as a host is an “ignorant” one: I don’t explain about the art but enhance the experience of it. It is an invitation to be an active public member.

Any artistic intervention is composed by three parts: a warm-up inspired by qualities of the show we are about to see, in which we tune into our senses; a shared public experience such as a performance, an exhibition, or another; and lastly, a reflective dialogue and translation through creative tools to suspend the judgement and let the impressions land. It is open to everybody, and any-body can join.

In this joint date, the group setting allows a sense of complicity to lean into the edges of our comfort, try new things, get at ease with friction, and be curious about which way we want to show up today; to decide the terms we engage within the frames we meet at, allowing to hold complexities and each other. Rather than exchanging information within the group, we share subjective perspectives and sensibilities. A self-reflective inquiry is an antidote to so many should’s and must’s; We don’t need to get what the artist attempted to convey. We might not make sense, but for sure we have it. Our attempt to translate in any language – symbolic or verbal – allows us to take ownership of what is alive.

Audiencing belongs to aspects of education, communication, or content such as programming, and context activities in art organization. I invite you to reach out so we can roll a conversation, search for common ground, and maybe - who knows, collaborate on a project.

You can read participants’ reactions during workshops in each event as documentation, and some testimonials here.