collective being (2023-)
Collective Being is an ongoing social sculpture that envisions a collective body, free from hierarchical divisions between mind and flesh, self and other, subject and object, body and land. The piece evokes a snake — a being that blurs the distinction between head and body — whose skeleton allows for both linear and dynamic movement. The unaltered bones are shaped into letters, turning the sculpture into a text that can be voiced as a prolonged "O," resonating through the body when chanted, especially with the mouth closed. This vibration, transmitted through the skull via bone conduction, reveals the body as a resonant instrument.
As a social sculpture, the work is designed to be activated in different contexts — with different bodies, communities, and sites shaping its meaning each time.
Documentation from exhibition Del arte, la naturaleza y las mujeres: Miradas ecofeministas en Guatemala, curated by Rossina Cazali for the Centro Cultural de España in 2024. Activated on 6th Avenue, Zone 1, Guatemala City. Photos: Gabriela del Cid (performance)
Activation Berlin, 2025
Activated as part of Panke Open Studios, linking three studio complexes — Uferhallen, Gerichtshöfe, and Chausseestraße 48 — through an art trail along the Panke river. Participants gathered in the first courtyard of Gerichtshöfe, taking time to attune to themselves and each other before moving together as a single body along the river toward Chausseestraße 48. The walk was guided not by instruction but by touch and bodily attunement — the sculpture passing between hands, the group finding its rhythm in motion.
Photos by Katie O’Neill
Activation Berlin, 2025
Documentation from Three Bodies, a 2025 exhibition at Vorfluter, Berlin. The public program included a collaborative breathwork session with Gerjet Efken, a planetary sound meditation with Paloma / Zen Chaos, and an activation of Collective Being — in which participants gathered around the sculpture, moving in circles with eyes closed in a shared breathing meditation, the bones passing through hands as a guide for collective attunement.
Photos of activations: Giulia Garetto. Installation photo: Vorfluter.
Activation Guatemala City, 2024
Activated on the final day of Del arte, la naturaleza y las mujeres: Miradas ecofeministas en Guatemala, curated by Rossina Cazali for the Centro Cultural de España. The session began inside the gallery with a closed-mouth vocalization — participants reading each bone as an "o," the sound traveling through the skull via bone conduction, the body revealed simultaneously as instrument and receiver. The group then moved out onto 6ta Avenida, forming a collective animal along the pedestrian path. In silence, participants became increasingly attuned to each other's movements, adjusting each gesture to flow as a single organism within the urban space.
Photos performance: Gabriela del Cid. Installation: Margo Porres