Gravitational waves alter us, pass through us and cause our bones to modulate. The somatic architecture of the piece immerses you in that perception like no other space has ever done before.

In poetics of gravity, a common force appears, one that shapes our bones, pushes and moves us, also sustains and drives us, all of us equally. Gravity is an attraction force. Every time you feel an attraction and every time you feel compelled to be in touch with a surface or a body, you are grounded. Somatic Architecture works with gravity as it puts attractions, surfaces, and bodies into play. We establish an action-reaction dialogue between us and other “bodies” in continuous interactions.

Architecture is not an inert material but also creates bodies, structures of power, ecological cycles, or affective moods. Ali those dynamic forces also “build” architecture, and Somatic Architecture then becomes a performative expression of the dynamic possibilities of architecture.

Somatic Architecture works with desire as an attraction force-as gravity. Without forcing them to, the different organisms function within this architecture together.

Further, this somatic embodiment also has political implications. Unfortunately, not all bodies have the same value in our societies. Some bodies are continually exposed to a supposed groundlessness that is only understood as such by privileged bodies that always feel safe. Some other bodies are not allowed to be grounded because of specific situations of the socio-political environment. Groundlessness, for this reason, is therefore a situated experience. lt is because of this that Somatic Architecture works both, to give support to the more vulnerable bodies and to regulate – through somatic learning and awareness – the excessive requirements of the privileged bodies.

POETICS OF GRAVITY is a project of art-science directed by Edgardo Mercado as part of the Orillas Nuevas programme. PSAAP collaborates in the creation of a performative installation and its associated workshops. A somatic architecture that forms part of a participatory choreographic piece.

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