A collaborative project between myself and Danish artist, Mette Sanggaard, Everything in Life is Vibration–Albert Einstein has two components. The first is a scored choreography for two performers in which we develop a kinetic relationship to the materiality of magnets and the science of magnetic fields. We used this performance process as a means for understanding magnetic fields and the body, and to create an open kinetic language that serves as a basis for a series of social sculpture workshops. This page is devoted to the scored performance as developed and performed for audiences in Berlin (2021).

Everything in Life is Vibration–Albert Einstein began with an interest in magnetic fields and vibrations, and a working premise that the significance and power of magnetic vibrations extends beyond the science of known facts; that these fields inform and influence not only celestial bodies, but all physical bodies. We set forth the question, can humans change their lived experiences (including physical and mental states) through manipulation of magnetic fields? Setting this as our initial hypothesis, and with the intent to develop a participatory situation, we first developed a collaborative performance as a way to understand the magnetic fields with our own bodies.

The performance is a kinetic interpretation of how magnetic fields loop, couple, evolve, quicken and fade. The audience experiences a narrative flow through the exploration by the performers of our bodies and magnets in a scored use of a prepared space. Wearing clothing embedded with rare-earth Neodym magnets, the performers explore magnetic fields between their bodies as we repel, vibrate, snap together and pull apart. Because this is a scored performance, chance is an inherent element. As performers, we linger with one another, relying not on knowing what comes next, but rather reacting to what happens; feeling and sensing what is happening around us, between us. The temporal rhythm is also changing in this performance, accelerating from slow steps into running and bodily collisions; slowing to a complete stillness. These tempo changes happen not once, but rather melodically through the duration of the piece.