Scalable Skeletal Escalator (open rehearsal)
(2020)

Scalable Skeletal Escalator is an experimental live art work conceived by Isabel Lewis in the form of a holobiont, a multi-organismic assemblage, like the human body itself, shuddering and shaking into being. This mode of exhibition-making draws inspiration from evolutionary biologist Dr. Lynn Margulis’ emphasis on cooperative and symbiotic relationships between species as the driving force of evolution. The themes of the work are continuous with its form reflecting on potential human futures. Continuing in the vein of Isabel Lewis’ practice of questioning the disembodied thought systems of the West which deny the body of «livingness» in the deadlock of idealism/materialism, this work invites collaborators and visitors on a participatory epistemological quest to re(dis)cover the body by rehabilitating our human sensorium in order that we might enhance living rather than alienate ourselves from life. Scalable Skeletal Escalator is made possible through collaborative efforts by artists operating in multiple fields. Dirk Bell and Mo Stern created a custom-made speaker system, Lara Dâmaso, The Field (a cooperation with Tanzhaus Zürich), Rafał Pierzyński and Mathias Ringgenberg are the dancers inhabiting the spaces. The music that weaves through the building is by LABOUR and Matthew Lutz-Kinoy created the paintings on canvas. Smells produced by artist and researcher Sissel Tolaas are most evident in the basement of Löwenbräukunst, while the dancers’ costumes are from Marcelo Alcaide and Yolanda Zobel. The work is created with the support of Callie's Berlin and Tanzhaus Zürich.