The Punishment Project
The Punishment Project was Emma-Sofie's Bachelor project at The University College of Danceart in Oslo. In the format of a 45 minute solo-piece, Emma explored the concept of art as an act of destruction or art as an act of violence, the chosen means of violence being destruction. She drew on specific choreographic elements such as deconstruction of movement and text/vocals, deconstruction of a room and destruction of physical objects through dance. The solo's intro consists of a record player being turned on, Emma slowly beginning to dance to the music, and as she does, her movements cause the record player to tremble and the needle to slowly scratch the record, thus creating a reconstruction of the music by destroying the physical object.
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The piece also draws on Emma's teenage experience of self-destructive behaviour. She is particularily fascinarted by the act of causing ones own destruction, sometimes aware, sometimes not, and feeling powerless to choose otherwise. The themes are explored with a genuine curiosity, and want to understand the mechanisms of behaviour that is often seen as irrational.
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A comment made by a peer during a process-viewing on how morbid and uninteresting self-punishment is inspired the title.
