Mirto Delimichali works on the notion of rest in urban landscapes. This movement research aims to analyze the disquiet surrounding the Boulevard Périphérique in Paris and to explore the possibility of rest around this infrastructure.
Reflective Bodies is a choreographic practice that researches the possibilities of rest within urban landscapes. Through a kinaesthetic approach, Mirto Delimichali experiences the scales, the patterns, the sounds and the rhythms of city infrastructures and their mirroring effect on bodies. Physical activity within the cities is often limited to purpose and efficiency. Unnecessary movements (i.e. movements that have no specific purpose or destination) could be considered a waste of time. Against this backdrop, rest in the public space can appear as a rare practice.
Through her work, Delimichali explores how relaxing, listening and getting comfortable can widen our body perspectives within the city. The urban space no longer becomes a space of infinite commuting, but spaces to ground, to land, to sense materialities, to digest scales, to listen, to negotiate with memories. From this perspective, the city can be seen as an active archive of body memories where rest is no longer an unnecessary movement but a ritual of resonance and interaction that shifts the city’s performativities. For this particular project, Ghislaine Louveau (performer), activated Delimichali’s choreographic score and traced places of rest across the Boulevard Périphérique.