SCRUPUS is an interdisciplinary research. In it I conduct artistic and technical methodological research and investigate the possibilities of interaction between dance, film and architecture. In their encounter I search for the conditions and possibilities of mutual effects on each other with the aim of creating illusory effects of weightlessness and disorientation. In the experiment, new possibilities for temporality, scale, body-space relationship, and sequencing of movement emerge.

Dance | The dance research in SCRUPUS consists of the further development of a movement systematics with a focus on isolated movements and rotations around anchor points, based on the supporting and sustaining function of the body. The focus is on exploring choreographic possibilities and ways of working to elaborate a movement language that creates illusory effects of weightlessness and disorientation.

Architecture | Inspired by a dance culture that comes from the street, I consciously seek a dialogue with the urban environment. With a focus on the direct 1:1 proportionality to the human body, architectural situations are sought whose characteristics serve as a starting point for the development of a movement system. For this purpose, a universally applicable working method is developed, whereby dance, film and the local conditions can always harmonize with each other.

Film | The medium is an integral part of the research process and deliberately added to the authorship. Film has shaped our perception of dance since its inception – with all the possibilities for its (re-)presentation. Nowadays, the viewing of dance increasingly takes place in digital form, which has been reinforced by the situation of the pandemic. Access is becoming more low threshold, the process of curation is transforming and dance is reaching a wider audience. Incorporated into this evolution, the medium of film finds its relevance in this research, on the one hand, as a documentary tool that makes a site-specific work accessible through time and space. On the other hand, it becomes an integral component for generating the desired illusion of weightlessness, which dissolves the boundaries of the body and allows it to merge with the space.

Director Biography – Timo Paris

Timo Paris, born on August 12, 1994 in Basel. After graduating from the Gymnasium Oberwil in 2013, he attended the preliminary course for design at the Schule für Gestaltung Basel and, after an intervening year spent traveling in Australia and Asia, he successfully graduates in September 2020 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the FHNW HGK Basel. He has just started his Master’s degree in Fine Arts at the same school.

His works have been shown so far in solo as well as group exhibitions, among others at SCOUT at Schwarzpark Basel (2022), in the inauguration of the work purchase Kunst am Bau by the Office for Environment and Energy Basel (2022), at the Cine POP up at Cine ABC Bern (2022), the group exhibition Tripple Take at Wilde Gallerie Basel (2022), at the Museum Langmatt Baden with the exhibition Raumfahrt V (2021), Open Gallery at Galerie 143 Lörrach (2021), Art des Hauses at Schlosspark Andelfingen (2021), Live, Love, Justice “Next Generation” at Kunsthaus Baselland (2021), the LISTE 23 (2018), the ART FAIR at Basel Art Center (2016), Galerie Silbernagl in Milano (2015), SCOPE International Contemporary Art Show (2015).

At competitions (Battles) he regularly records successes such as winning the 1vs1 concrete Battle at the City vs. City Bern (2020), he was one of the top 50 dancers at the Breaking World Championships in Nanjing / China (2019) with the Swiss Olympic Team, semifinalist at the BCOne Cypher Switzerland (Swiss Championship) in Basel (2017) and winner of the Battlesquare Geneva (2016).

In addition to competitions, Timo Paris actively participates in performances and shows. Among others, he performed in for the event series I Hear a New World – 14 Miaows of the Future curated by Chus Martinez at the Museum Beyeler, developed three dance solos for the concert ECHOES by the music collective TOROS (2022), conceived five site-specific performances for ADB (Architektur Dialoge Basel) as part of the Architekturtage (October 2021), was curator, organizer and dancer of the Showbattle for Kunsthaus Baselland at OsloNight (2019, 2020). He was performer for 60s performance icon Simone Fortis’ Slantboard, Platforms, Huddle (2022, 2019), was dancer for the dance show with the movement as opening act of the Lehrerkonvent Basel Stadt (2019), the dance production Vas-Y with MIR Compagnie (2017), Dancer in the solo piece Continum of the company CARTA BLANKA DANCE, choreographed by Max Zacchrison (choreographer and dancer at Theater Basel, 2017) and quite a few street shows in Portugal, Belgium, Germany and England (2016 / 2017). Since 2014 he works as a dance teacher at MIR Compagnie under the direction of Béatrice Goetz and realizes art and design commissions as well as dance projects with his Studio Timo Paris (©2019).