Hofgarten Cruise: How to Cruise

Age recommendation: For viewers over 16 years Content Note: Discussion of sexual acts Hofgarten Cruise is a three-part series by performance artist Thomas Bartling on the topic of cruising. This queer cultural technique describes the anonymous search for sexual encounters in public spaces. In times of social repression, secret meeting places emerged, beyond public perception. In Düsseldorf's Hofgarten, there has traditionally been such a cruising spot. How to Cruise How do bodies move through a space in which seeing and being seen, approach and distance, hiding and visibility enter into a mysterious alliance? This specific form of movement and encounter forms the starting point for a choreographic research with dancer Jolinus Pape. Cruising is examined as a quality of movement and translated into choreographic material. Glances, postures, approaches and evasive movements, rhythms and spatial relationships become the material for a choreography that moves between observation and interaction. The direct encounter with the dancing body is central. Through eye contact, proximity and distance, changing constellations emerge in which the choreographic qualities are situationally conveyed. In this Cruising Experience Tutorial, the audience does not experience the movements as observers, but becomes part of the choreographic situation themselves.