Tete-a-Tete

Tête-à-Tête is a one-hour conversation through drawing on your own skin between 5-8 participants, including DAY Collective. There is only one rule — no words. It allows one to concentrate on other senses and bring awareness inwards, letting sensibility, intuition and imagination expand.

In this embodied experience the reasoning is resting allowing unconsciousness or rather deep consciousness to navigate one’s experience. It is a safe space where one can be vulnerable and appreciated. No experience with drawing is needed. Everyone from 18 years old is welcome.

The drawing tools: eco-cosmetic pencils.

13:00-14:00 — Tete-a-Tete (we start directly in silence)

14:00-15:00 — Tea and cookie time, sharing experiences and cleaning the body

Now words open up a state of silence that allows the participants to bring the awareness inwards; providing calmness of the mind - the nonnecessity to speed up, and relaxing the muscles of the body; it brings greater concentration and focused attention towards one’s own body and the actions of others.

Within Tête-à-Tête new modes of language based on intuition, silence, imagination, and sensibility, are being explored.

Skin is both a border and a transmitter. It is the most sensitive organ with 75 km of nerves, because of which the body can form tactile impressions of the world. “This is how we learn about the world and recognize ourselves in it. More importantly, the skin is”—, as philosopher Michel Serres argues, “a meta-organ through which our senses of touch, sight, taste, smell, and hearing function.” Skin represents our culture, ethnicity, age, health, our identity.

“For me, the beauty of the Tete-a-Tete project lies in its simplicity in returning to childhood, exercising myself and my openness through poetry and abstraction, leaving the ready-made structures and rules. Tete-a-Tete is a unique way to break out of an oppressive and judgmental system into a more fluid world of “not-knowing” reflecting by being here and now with your skin, colors, shapes and open eyes. To be able to lightly interpret many interactions and let others do the same.” — Malgorzata Rey

The Tete-a-Tete performance was developed thanks to the great support of the Mondriaan Fund, a Dutch public fund for the visual arts and cultural heritage, and continues independently.

Up until now, more than 170 Tete-a-Tete performances took place among others at Art Rotterdam, at the festival Brief Encounters by Lustwarande in Tilburg, at Museumplein in Amsterdam, at Framer Framed, H401, Outsider Art Gallery, De Nieuwe Liefde in the activity center for Ukrainian refugees in Amstelveen, at the Poetry Shaped festival Eindhoven and during the Systems at Play symposium in Brussels 2023.

Tete-a-Tete performance was featured in:

Unbore - Art Platform

https://www.unbore.org/stories/2021/12/14/embodying-art-exploring-new-spaces-of-experiencing-the-world-with-day-collective

Spark your Joy - podcast by Iva Buzhaska

The World of Colour - podcast by Radio Oedipus:

https://soundcloud.com/radiooedipus/the-world-of-color-7-w-day-collective

Compilation of the video recordings from Tete-a-Tete performances in art spaces

At the opening of the Tete-a-Tete exhibition in H401 art space in Amsterdam.

Host or Publisher DAY collective