Encyclopedia of Relations: Observing through Embodiment and Movement Research

Abstract

The present paper proposes a (post- and) eco-critical reading of Alexandra Pirici’s ongoing action, Encyclopedia of Relations, staged at the Venice Biennale in 2022. While it addresses a considerable gap within Romanian performance art studies, this article aims to offer a case study of how artistic practice can generate alternative modes of being together. With no doubt, as Rosi Braidotti stated at the Biennale conference, the art exhibited at the 2022 edition works collaboratively with theory to become an imaginative tool of research. Following this lead, the article discusses Pirici’s performative work that takes the task of exploring non-human relational modes through cognitive embodiment. This approach underlines how performance art practices move beyond the aesthetic sphere, projecting solutions to emerging environmental crises and offering a fresh perspective on knowledge production.