What do we know when we see something or somebody? Elisabeth Bakambamba Tambwe takes a look at the gaze itself and confronts us with the question: Can you see without looking? The Congolese-Austrian choreographer explores individual perceptual differences along with the filters applied by us when we categorise our fellow human beings – in her case as black, female, artist and mother.

Tambwe deconstructs the conditioning of looking and gazes, searching for strategies as to how they can be re-conquered, thwarted and redirected. She focuses on the (self-)manipulation of bodies in Western Europe, in the Austrian-African diaspora and in Congolese society. She invites the audience to follow her behind the mirror and cast a critical eye on the gaze.

Elisabeth Bakambamba Tambwe, born in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, lives and works as a performance artist, choreographer and visual artist in Vienna. She grew up in France and studied Fine Art at the École des Beaux-Arts in the northern French city of Tourcoing. After graduating in 1998, Tambwe began working as a dancer and performer, focussing on the manipulation of bodies in Western Europe and Congo. Her performances staged at the Vienna Dance Festival, the Wiener Festwochen, Tanzquartier Wien and steirischer herbst among other venues, always incorporate the installation-based space created around them. Elisabeth Bakambamba Tambwe also works as a multimedia visual artist. Her most recent exhibition “La Philosophie Banane” was shown at Weltmuseum Wien in 2014.

https://www.elitambwe.com