CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
METABODY_TOULOUSE 2025
(Deadline: September 14)
Info on NOVATOPIA

Transformative Practices for the Eco-Social Crisis

Each year, Metabody_Toulouse, a transdisciplinary platform, challenges and enriches us. The exchanges with Jaym/Jaime del Val* and Jean-Marc Matos, the experimentation in creation-research, the growing awareness of the current social and ecological crisis, remind us how essential these spaces/times are for us and our professions.
It is not “just” another artistic residency. It is a profound human experience, a moment of reflection on the place we occupy (or not) in mixed groups, on our professional paths, and on the impact this has on our construction as artists. See the Metabody – BODYNET-KHOROS website.

We work on seeking poetic, political, and concrete alternatives for creation in its various forms: dance, physical theatre, music, video art, digital environments, AI technologies, etc.
It is at once in situ (improvised activations indoors and outdoors), immersive (contemplative digital universes), and participatory (everything is based on physical interaction between beings).
A kind of “creative ceremony” for today’s world.

In the autumn, in Toulouse, three distinct residency sessions of training/research/creation will take place.

They offer joint work on the body, its choreographic writings indoors and outdoors, and co-writing explorations with interactive digital devices. They will be held on the following dates:

I am delighted to offer you the opportunity of a unique encounter with artist-philosopher-activist Jaym/Jaime del Val*, coming specially from Spain for Sessions 1 and 2, with new proposals and approaches to movement, modes of improvisation in outdoor spaces, and immersive interactive experiences with digital tools.
Other partners active in the field of digital technologies applied to the performing arts will also join us.
Furthermore, we offer the possibility of “mentoring” if you would like to take advantage of this occasion to start a creation project. For this, you can also send me a detailed artistic proposal.

During the third session, on December 10–12, I will welcome in Toulouse two companies,
Konic Th from Barcelona, and Baal from Mallorca (Balearic Islands), who will bring their own performances and mediation actions, within the framework of the Eurorégional project Cos(AdaEina2). On December 8, 9, and 10, I will lead a choreographic writing workshop connected to the interactive system of the Myselves project. On December 11 and 12, the two guest companies will present their approaches, workshops, mini-performances, and two distinct interactive installations. Public discussions will follow.

Please let me know as soon as possible which period(s) you would be interested in, as I wish to limit the number of participants.

Practical Information

K. Danse does not have the financial means to cover transport, accommodation, or food costs, but we can consider buying food together and cooking collectively, since there is a kitchen available on site.
The event is strictly vegan (to be fully consistent with the project’s philosophy).
You may contact friends in the area to help with accommodation, and buy your transport tickets well in advance, or arrange carpooling.
Each one-week residency costs €70, and it is free of charge for anyone coming from outside Toulouse, from elsewhere in France, or from abroad.

Accessibility: the space is not yet fully adapted for wheelchairs (adaptation planned). Please let us know your specific needs, particularly regarding sign language interpretation or others, as well as food allergies.

Proposed Theme: Transformative Practices for the Eco-Social Crisis

How can the arts, academic research, and activism merge into a whole that is both new and meaningful, responding to the current eco-social crisis and its existential threat to all life on Earth? By combining radical critique, visionary creativity, and survival practices, the sessions propose original tools for deep systemic change, emphasizing the underestimated role of the moving body in this process.

Proposing a unique intersectionality going beyond queer, animal, ecological, decolonial, crip, or posthuman studies, and resonating with the VegAnarQueer proposal, Metabody_Toulouse 2025 Sessions 1 and 2 will address largely ignored factors of dominant life-thought modes and their associated human supremacism, while offering new ways of questioning them at the intersection of theory, sensorimotor experimentation, digital technologies, and survival techniques.

Sessions 1 and 2, each lasting 5 days, will share the Metabody TOOLKIT, developed within the framework of the European project Bodynet-Khorós, which concluded on May 31, 2025. This includes (see link to the toolkit above for references and details):

Mornings: 10 am – 1 pm

  • Theoretical and contextual presentation of the project, from the perspective of Metahumanism (10:00–10:30)
  • Physical activity: creative tools focused on choral improvisation techniques of the moving and sounding body, without new media – disalignment techniques – deployed throughout the week as a powerful choral practice. With alternating guidance from Jaym/Jaime del Val* and Jean-Marc Matos. Depending on the weather, these movement practices may take place outdoors or in public spaces (10:30–13:00).

Meal: 1–2 pm, prepared collectively

 Afternoons: 2–6 pm

  • Creative tools focused on choral improvisation techniques of the moving and sounding body, with new media – exploring, over the week, a variety of tools. Depending on the weather, these may take place outdoors or in public spaces.
  • Space-time for participants to present their own theoretical/practical research projects, discuss, and/or develop their artistic projects.
  • Additional possibilities: sharing survival and ecological knowledge such as ethnobotany, edible plants, ecosystem study, or rewilding, with walks and outdoor activities: the adjoining garden, the village center, selected places in Toulouse, etc.

Throughout the week, a powerful choral dynamic will emerge, itself an experience to rethink communities beyond anthropocentrism, toward habitable earthly futures. Participants will have the opportunity to present, discuss, and work on their own creative, research, or activist projects.
All this will unfold in a convivial setting, living, and cooking together vegan meals (Sessions 1 and 2), in the unique location of “La Vannerie,” with its adjoining garden.

Target Audience

Artists of all disciplines (with an interest in the moving body), researchers from all disciplines (wishing to address the eco-social crisis), activists or social workers, as well as anyone interested in the proposed themes. The movement practices can be adapted for people with very limited mobility.

Languages: French (mainly), English, and Spanish, with the possibility of translation into Italian and German. Non-verbal forms of conviviality will also be explored.

If you are interested, please write us a few lines about your motivation at: kdmatos@orange.fr.
Deadline: September 14

About Jaym/Jaime del Val*
Artist-philosopher-activist, promoter of Metahumanism, author of the trilogy Ontohackers: Radical Movement Philosophy in the Age of Extinctions and Algorithms (punctum books 2024–2025), and promoter-coordinator of the European projects Metabody and Bodynet-Khorós. Since 2001, they have presented their transdisciplinary projects and organized more than 100 events in over 30 countries and published more than 120 essays. As a post-queer, environmental, and animal activist, Jaym* has led international initiatives. As a musician, they have recorded 13 albums and also exhibit as a visual artist. They are currently developing a rural space in Salamanca while training to become a nomadic forager.
http://jaimedelval.com

About Jean-Marc Matos
All information available at:
https://www.k-danse.net/portfolio/direction-artistique/

More info: Metabody – BODYNET-KHOROS, K. Danse