Taking the time
hosted by Elena Lach, Ema Bencíková & LIFT Tanzkollektiv
Breathe in. Breathe out. It’s the day after the show, after the premiere, after the festival opening. Once the adrenaline wanes, we start asking ourselves: What can we do to relax? In this workshop, we will shift down a gear, sharing practices of resting and exploring ways of regulation using movement and sound, touch and breathing. Together we overcome productivity and look at collective resting as care.
Let’s lie down, make ourselves comfortable and stop for a while. This meeting is an invitation to slow down together and try out ways of relaxing – during a festival, in the middle of it and when it’s done. Actually, what is it that the body really needs?
Together with artists of LIFT Tanzkollektiv, we compile, share and explore practices of relaxation, self- and co-regulation as we enjoy a guided relaxation.
What happens when we refuse to perform?
When we suspend productivity for a moment to yawn, stretch or just do nothing?
What strategies can help us to regulate the nervous system – and is there a way for us to help each other adapt them?
Share a stim. Share a moment of silence. This is how we practice resting as resistance, as collective care, as a way of loosening the grip of achievement culture.
The format is designed to allow attendants to join or leave anytime. There is no need to show up on time at 16:00.
Elena Elena Lach (they/she) lives in Vienna and works as a performer, personal assistant and director’s assistant. They research the queer use of public spaces under the name of SPACE HOLDER, helping neurodivergent people to access queer parties, so far at flucc and 4lthangrund. As part of the Careful Collisions Collective, Elena Lach designs queer movement spaces for contact improvisation. They love questions and non-verbal communication and practice social idiosyncrasy as a survival strategy and a way to conduct relationships. In the autumn of 2025, Elena Lach, together with Ema Benčíková, hosted a workshop entitled Spacing in: Relaxed Performance Lab for autistic and neuroqueer persons as part of accessible brut.
Ema Benčíková (she/they) is a Vienna-based curator, theatre director and care worker. In their artistic research, they concentrate on a critical phenomenology of non-normative embodiment using methods of institutional constructivism and infrastructural analysis of assistance within trans and crip communities. From 2019 to 2024, they headed the Stopy Snov neurodivergent community theatre in Bratislava. In 2025, they curated exhibitions at the ŠKUC Gallery in Ljubljana and the Kunsthalle Exnergasse in Vienna. Also, Ema Benčíková received a scholarship from the intersectional organisation ‘kültüř gemma!’ In the autumn of 2025, together with Elena Lach, they hosted a workshop entitled Spacing in: Relaxed Performance Lab for autistic and neuroqueer persons as part of accessible brut.
LIFT Tanzkollektiv (Liv Schellander, Irene Giró, Fia/Sophia Neises, Tanja Erhart) is a constellation of crip, queer and migrant bodies that create novel spaces of encounter and experience with a focus on aesthetic accessibility.
Accessibility
Registration for assistants, attendants and support dogs can be done via our registration form, by e-mailing tickets@brut-wien.at or by calling +43 1 587 8774.
For everybody to find their way to brut nordwest, we offer a pick-up service at the close-by tram stations prior to the shows. Please give us a heads-up by e-mailing tickets@brut-wien.at or calling +43 1 587 8774 and we will be happy to pick you up!
Tactile guidance system
Access friends
Alternative seating and lying options
Stim toys
Resting room
Sensory regulation room
In the case of questions, please contact us by e-mailing tickets@brut-wien.at or calling +43 1 587 8774.
Links & Social
Dates & Tickets
Audioflyer for the brut accessible programme:
March 2026
Join anytime. Pay as you can. Registration via the ticket button
brut nordwest
Nordwestbahnstraße 8-10, 1200 Vienna
accessible
Info
Book table by O*Books
There will be a book table by O*Books on site, featuring a curated selection of books around the themes of care and rest. The books can be purchased on site while supplies last.
Event recommendations
LIFT Tanzkollektiv (Liv Schellander, Irene Giró, Fia/Sophia Neises, Tanja Erhart)
BIOFUCK
BUZZING around
brut all over Vienna
brut nordwest
accessible
Nordwestbahnstraße 8-10, 1200 Vienna
Subway: U1, U2 (Praterstern), U4 (Friedensbrücke), U6 (Dresdnerstraße) Tram: 5 (Nordwestbahnstraße) Bus: 5A (Wasnergasse)
accessible
studio brut
not accessible
Zieglergasse 25, 1070 Wien
Subway: U3 (Zieglergasse), Tram: 49 (Westbahnstraße / Zieglergasse)
not accessible
Bears in the Park Art Place
not accessible
Eyzinggasse 12, 1110 Vienna
U-Bahn: U3 (Gasometer) Bus: 72A (Gasometer), 76A, 76B (Simoningplatz)
not accessible
WUK performing arts
barrierefrei
Währinger Straße 59, 1090 Vienna
Subway: U6 (Währinger Straße / Volksoper), Tram: 40, 41, 42 (Währinger Straße / Volksoper), 5, 33 (Spitalgasse), 37, 38, 40, 41, 42 (Spitalgasse / Währinger Straße)
Der Betrieb
accessible
Vogelweidplatz 13, 1150 Wien
Subway: U6 (Burggasse-Stadthalle) / Bus: 48A (Moeringgasse) / Tram: 9 (Camillo Sitte Gasse)