a Wing that was a Hand
XR-Workshop with Dancer Viviana Defazio, and Transdisciplinary Artists Pascal Marcel Dreier & Paula Strunden
Artwork by Nathan Schönewolf & Pascal Marcel Dreier
Thursday 18.09.25 (10-18h) und 19.09.25 (10-15h) @ Multispecies Studio, Academy of Media Arts Cologne, Heumarkt 14, 50667 Köln
Open to students from all disciplines and universities. Free of charge. To register, please send an email to multispecies [at] khm.de
This two-day workshop explores a bird’s lived experience through embodiment and extended reality. The choreographer and dancer Viviana Defazio as well as the artists Pascal Marcel Dreier and Paula Strunden will guide participants through a series of exercises, that investigate orientation, trust and care. In parallel, XR sessions invite participants to envision and inhabit bird-like bodies, experimenting with eggs, nests, wings, claws and finally the sensation of flying. Together, we will weave these experiences into collective discussions on perception, imagination, and transformation.
The event forms part of the artistic research project "A Wing That Was a Hand" by Pascal Marcel Dreier and Paula Strunden, developed during Strunden's media art fellowship (NRW Medienkunstfellow) at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. Curatorially guided by Leoni Fischer (Symbiotic Lab), the project explores the (im)possibility of becoming-bird, creating immersive experiences that deepen our understanding of birds, ourselves as humans, and extended reality (XR) technologies.
Viviana Defazio is a freelance dancer, choreographer, workshop facilitator and shiatsu practitioner based in Berlin. Following her studies at the Folkwang University of the Arts, she worked and toured with various choreographers and directors including Anna Konjetzky, Romeo Castellucci, Jo Parkes, Allora & Calzadilla, Sasha Waltz, Akemi Nagao and Stella Geppert.
Her choreographic works have been shown at the Berlin Academy of Arts, Humboldt Forum Museum, Bode Museum, Radialsystem, JTW Spandau, Sophiensäle and Tanzhalle Wiesenburg in Berlin, as well as at the Bauhaus University in Weimar. She runs workshops at Radialsystem and Uferstudios in Berlin as well as dance workshops relating to Extended Reality (XR) at the Bauhaus University in Weimar, the UdK Berlin and the KHM Cologne, together with the architectural designer and transdisciplinary artist Paula Strunden. Since 2023, she has worked with Isabelle Schad on creations such as "Studies on Infinity #1", "The Shift of Focus", "Studies on Infinity #2 – Nudity and Landscape", and "Close by – So far", as well as with Sasha Waltz on the choreography "In C". More Info︎︎︎
Paula Strunden is a transdisciplinary VR artist with a background in architecture. She studied in Vienna, Paris and London and worked at Raumlabor Berlin and Herzog & de Meuron Basel. As the founder of XR Atlas, an interdisciplinary online platform, Paula advocates alternative historiographies of virtual technologies.
Website︎︎︎ Instagram︎︎︎
Pascal Marcel Dreier (Cologne, Berlin) is a transdisciplinary artist and researcher with a focus on human-animal relationships. Pascal studied Art & Ecology at Goldsmiths, University of London, as well as Media, Design, and Fine Art in Cologne, Vienna, and Schwäbisch Gmünd. His artistic-research practice includes ethnographic fieldwork as well as working with game engines, video games, 3D scanning and 3D printing. Pascal is currently assistant professor of Multispecies Storytelling at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne.
Website︎︎︎ Instagram︎︎︎
Gefördert durch das Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen als Medienkunstfellow.
