ABOUT
OUR WORK...
THE MAKERS...
FORMATS AND TOPICS...
- COMING SOON -
(ART) PROJECTS...
- coming soon -
NETWORKS...
- coming soon -
OUR WORK...
"I'm just saying, I really like sex. We have no idea what sex would be like in a world that saw it basically as a good. A weird good. A good that can tip you over and make you want to do strange things. A good that can reveal your incoherence, your love of a little disorder, your love of a little control (adjust the dial as you like). A good that can make you happy, for a minute, before the cat starts scratching the corner of the bed, or the phone rings, or the kids mew, or you're hungry and sleepy, or you need another drink, or the cab comes. [...]
[It's] playful, if you can remember that part; it's also ridiculous and hilarious, if you can remember to notice that. It can also be very interesting and various, if you want it to be [...] Who knows what sex could be if people were encouraged to enjoy it as play rather than as a drama. [...] It deserves better."
- Lauren Berlant - read on >>here
Our work feeds on our enthusiasm for encounters in which sexuality(ies) - whatever that may mean - took on meaning in a playful, experimental, friendly, outrageous way. Spaces in which tribute was paid to the whole spectrum of intimacy, sensuality and desire: its beautiful, strange, cheerful, exciting, irritating, trivial, complex, stupid, frightening, inspiring aspects. This series of adjectives could be continued endlessly. Because sexuality simply cannot be definitively defined. The more you engage with it and allow yourself to be drawn into its vortex, the more questions arise - and the more enthusiasm on our part to continue asking, feeling, thinking and exchanging ideas with curiosity and goodwill. That's why we have been creating formats for several years in which this is possible together with other explorers. These explorative spaces include workshops, sessions, play parties and performances dedicated to the diverse aspects of intimacy and desire, inventive forms of encounter and communication and the discovery of new sensibilities and boundaries. Why all this? Because narratives about what sexuality is shape our society - and in a world that thrives on self-doubt, alternative approaches can act as resistance and empowerment.
MATÍS D'ARC
(Zurich & Berlin - Founder & Managing Director) is a rope, BDSM and play lover, seminar organizer and leader, sex worker, coach and sometimes artist & performer. A degree in literature and cultural work in the fields of contemporary music and dance theater led him from Munich to Argentina and finally to Berlin in 2010. There he discovered his passion for ropes and BDSM during excursions into the fetish and queer kink scene and finally found an experimental home in Felix Ruckert's Schwelle7. Since then, he has been driven by the conviction that the conscious and practical exploration of the body, intimacy, sexuality and BDSM not only provides a great deal of pleasure, but can also open up a special approach to one's own personality and a path to its development. In order to explore this potential and offer others the opportunity to try out and discover new things, he developed the LUHMEN D'ARC label together with Klara Luhmen in Berlin in 2013, which conceives and realizes events and art in various formats - workshops, performances, lectures, jams, play parties. Matís d'Arc has lived and worked in Zurich and Berlin since 2016.
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BEATA ABSALON
(Berlin) is a cultural scientist who researches "other states", such as childbirth, mourning, hysteria, sleep, radical happiness & collective (kill-)joy or sadomasochistic practices. After initially investigating how ropes can induce active passivity - through bondage, but also in puppetry or political activism - she is currently doing her doctorate on inventive forms of sexual education. Her theoretical interest stems from practice, as she likes to put herself and others into ecstatic states - preferably undogmatically: flogging with a leather whip or a bunch of dewy mint, holding with rope or a hug, playing with aggressive cuddling or loving humiliation, letting words or spit flow. Doing things that are out of the norm and out of the ordinary can be frightening and incredibly pleasurable at the same time. Beata designs workshops and sessions as experiential spaces for border crossings, where boundaries are crossed and found, vague and daring fantasies are explored together and a personal style is allowed to emerge.
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THE PARTICIPANTS
Photo: Ian Douglas
ANNA NATT
(Berlin) Anna’s multimedia work explores the intersection of dance, performance and visual arts. Her video works, stage performances and interactive pieces have been shown internationally in theaters as well as galleries and alternative spaces. She was trained in traditional flamenco dance in Seville, Spain from 2000-2005 before moving to Berlin, where she is currently based. Since 2017 she has focused on creating interactive spaces, curating the durational role play performance at the Berlin Xplore Festival and offering immersive workshops in both on- and offline contexts.
Photo: Andrea Lei
DANIELA REINA TÉLLEZ
(she/no pronoun - Bremen), is a brown body of culture, she is an experimental artist, dancer, sacred activist and somatically sexual learning companion.
Photo: Evert Smit
Filippa Frick
(Zurich) is a physiotherapist and trained in various massage techniques such as Lomi Lomi, Thai massage and medical massage. For over ten years she has been involved with the variety of expressions of touch and its nuances. Most recently, she completed her training as a Holistic Bodyworker.
REBECCA FRANCES
(Berlin) Rebecca is a writer, bodyworker, and workshop and breathwork facilitator. She completed a languages degree from Cambridge University and uses her interest in variations of communication and the power of language to both shape and limit experience, as inspiration for her experimental physical practices. A masseuse working in Berlin, she explores hands-on philosophical and poetic approaches to soma. Sessions fuse massage, breathwork and hypnotic meditations. Group settings focus on individual agency, comfort in challenge, and undogmatic experimentation.
ROPU NAWA
(Basel) RopuNawa first came into contact with Shibari/Kinbaku in 2008 during a performance in Australia. This accompanied him to Switzerland, where he began his journey with the rope. At that time, he formed the foundation of his bondage art from the style of Osada Steve, which was taught in Switzerland. However, he did not stick to this one style, but was inspired by many other teachers.
>> more about RopuNawa
Photo: Anaïs Stein
ABCDE FLASH
(she/her - Basel) sexploratory, conceptual artist whose work focuses on challenging her own mental and physical boundaries and blockades. She addresses and defies her own limitations through conscious and reflective play with partners, and she uses various media as a way to both document and give shape to these intimate encounters. Whether through film, still images, or text, abcde Flash candidly shares her processes of navigating different sexual curiosities with equal parts vulnerability, authenticity, and humor.
DAVID BLOOM
(Berlin / Zürich) is a choreographer, dancer, teacher, father, filmmaker, pianist, bodyworker, Jewish mystic, and tea collector. Graduated from the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt and the M.A. For the past decade or so, his work has revolved around questions of Desire, Intimacy, Boundaries, Power Relationships, Consent, and Group Dynamics. Other interests include Cross-Pollination, Pleasure, Space, Cellular Structures, the Digestive System, Fermentation, Sourdough, Beauty, Breath, Time, Spirit, Time, and Transformation.
JANNA SCHNEEWITTA REHBEIN
(Zurich / Hamburg) Janna, Dipl. Kunsttherapeutin / Master of Art in Context, accompanies people in transitions, sabbaticals, accompanies mourning processes and, above all, creates spaces for shared mourning in various formats, such as multi-day mourning fires and mourning rituals. For her, grief work is a deep access to joie de vivre and vitality and follows a natural intelligence.
SAARA REI
(Berlin) is a workshop facilitator and performance artist with a background in music, dance, education, and public speaking. Saara's work generally centers around the exploration of suffering, both physical and emotional. Having a Ph.D. in mathematics, Saara's academic experience adds an intellectual flair to complement her performative approach to bodywork. Playfulness and humor make up a big chunk of Saara's personality and approach to life, giving her workshops a very exploitative and light atmosphere, even while approaching some of the heaviest of topics.
SWAN
(Ibiza) works in the fields of artistic direction, performance, research and coaching and specializes in expanded states of consciousness. Swan holds a PhD in Philosophy and Divinity from Cambridge University, trained at the Jacques Lecoq School of Physical Theater and has certifications in Yoga, Tantra and Pranayama. Swan has been facilitating and guiding individuals and groups for over 10 years, has curated events in 13 countries on three continents and founded the Institute of Devotional Arts.
CLAUDIA LÖWEN
(Berlin) has been enthusiastically exploring the connections and possibilities of body and mind, touch and relationship, freedom and connection since childhood.
Growing up with horses and their subtle non-verbal communication and with oriental dance in a culturally mixed home, life repeatedly showed her the central importance of the body and its sensations for our personal development. She has worked intensively with various massage rituals and their philosophical and spiritual foundations.
She loves encounters, entering trance states and borderline experiences, loves to play and to dream wide awake. Her many years of training - or rather immersion - in Tantra, BDSM, Shiatsu and Lomi Lomi massages, as well as her diverse experiences at Schwelle7 Berlin, form the background to her current profession as a designer of sensual massage rituals and seminar facilitator.
FELIX RUCKERT
(Berlin) is a dancer, choreographer, conceptual artist and curator. Between 1993 and 2008, he created more than 30 full-length performances for his Berlin-based company, some of which toured worldwide. He has strongly influenced the performing arts by extending the stage to the audience's physical body and giving them an active role in his performances. Over the last twenty years he has become known for his practical and theoretical exploration of BDSM and the links between BDSM techniques and artistic practices, developing an art of touch and a philosophy of sensual communication.
NICOLAS YOROÏ
(Brussels) has been practicing rope bondage for more than 20 years. His work is based on his studies of Japanese Kinbaku/Shibari and various body practices: Aikido, Thai massage, contact improvisation, System A etc. He lived in Japan for four years, where he met his master, Arisue Go, and devoted himself to Aikido and the study of rope bondage. He also studied with Kinoko, Ottonawa, Kazami Ranki, Felix Rucker, Shadow, Pedro and many others. Nicolas' style is generally described as minimalist and organic in movement.
Photo: Maxi Hirthe
SHARKA REY
(Basel) is a Czech born and Basel-based conscious sexuality educator, bodyworker, yoga teacher, performer, international retreat and workshop organizer with experience in and passion for body mechanics, movement, dance, contact improvisation, theatre improvisation, and martial arts.
TAMANDUA
(Berlin) is a full time professional kinbaku artist and instructor who is invited internationally to share his approach to tormenting japanese rope bondage.
"I have a passionately sadistic streak and a deep love for the aesthetic realm of kinbaku. For me, the core of kinbaku lies in the meeting between the aesthetic expression and the emotional or erotic intention of the practice. And the more ones tying develops, the more seamlessly the parts can intermingle."