More or Less Human

We inherit our fears from our ancestors. They inevitably influence how we look at the world and behave in it. Artist Marcos Simões realizes that fear appears to be as much a source of fiction as does reality. He starts with fear as a form of aesthetics in his latest performance. Fear doesn’t need to be an obstacle, but rather a way to propel things into motion.   

Which gestures, types of dances, objects, figures, and landscapes originate in fear? Simões went to work like a craftsman, and kneaded together an intuitively composed collection of artworks. He sees these movements, objects, sounds, costumes, images, and voices as his ‘fear tools’, with which we can survive, pursue, reverse, and play with fear.  

“I am interested in fear as a designer, a vector of movement, a survival mechanism, a response to danger, a means of warning, an implosion or explosion – like a cat crossing paths with a dog – a reaction.”  

• Marcos Simões (1975) is a Brussels-based choreographer, performer, and weaver. Although the body is the material from which he works, he uses different media such as drawing, video, image, textiles, and objects. Through hybrid objects – somewhere between the visual and the performative – he reveals (often unexpected) relations between things. At Kaaistudios he has worked on How not to be understood? (2022) and, together with Lilia Mestre on Ai! (2011) and with Sara Manente on This Place (2013).