No matter whether one practices a religion or not, everyone is affected by this topic in our current times. In any case, if one is a Muslim, a Christian, an atheist, a Jew, a Buddhist, a Hindu, a Pegida follower, a scientist or just a logic lover - everyone believes in something. As a non-religious person, I approached this subject without having ever built up a particular understanding, knowledge or concern for it. Therefore, I had to find my own way to approach this topic. The core question I asked myself was, "Is the understanding of religious faith possible without believing religiously?" The idea behind this is that in my opinion, only true understanding and the confrontation with the unknown, can create acceptance and tolerance.
Today I am experiencing a society that is built on information and believes in scientific knowledge, rather than in religion. The quest for individualism and the urge to be unique leads to selfishness, rather than to cohesion and care. Today when we are confronted with the "new" I would like to encourage the feelings of astonishment and curiosity in favour of panic and fear.
I was looking for impressions and facts, for something that could stimulate my own curiosity to take a different perspective, and for something that could eventually open up a dialogue. My language became "movement".
Movement is the most natural and intuitive expression of beings in general and therefore also of men. Gesture expresses emotions, mostly unadulterated and unconscious.
I discovered movement as a dialogue between inner thoughts and the body during my research in the different prayers of the three big monotheistic religions: Islam, Judaism and Christianity. I found an almost choreography-like quality in it, and started to investigate the effect of the movements on my state of mind. For example, I experienced a strong urge to perform the movements in nature. I created a performance as a synthesis between gestures and core movements of prayers in order to enable a trialogue between Islam, Judaism and Christianity.
2016
