In his solo work, Alexander Gottfarb is especially interested in daily, physical practices that are part of our shared public sphere, which can be political (as in Political Movements) or religious (as in Moved by Faith). In A Matter of Belief, he continues to explore the latter but instead of using existing practices, as in previous works, he will now develop his own rituals, using different traditions only as reference points.

How to develop a ritual movement practice, which deals with today’s problems? Influenced by other ritual practices he will work with repetition and transformation, with discipline and exhaustion.

Most ritual practices are repeated according to a fixed time schedule, which can be daily, weekly or following larger time cycles such as the solstices. In the autumn of 2015 Alexander Gottfarb practiced on a daily basis in the Intakt Gallery of WUK and opened every day the last half hour of his practice from 7pm to 7.30pm to the public. This first cycle was both a research and preparation for the second long durational event where he practiced during an open, 72-hour event in the Projekt Raum of WUK where the audience could walk in and out. During the 72 hours Alexander Gottfarb lived and slept in the Projektraum and engaged with his physical practice at regular intervals in 3 hour cycles.

https://vimeo.com/160864527 (403)