“What is short-lived may not be the object itself, but the attention we afford it”.
– Philosopher Carlo Rovelli

GRASP is an interdisciplinary research project by Ada Freund, a Dance Research NRW fellow from Helsinki, which intertwines movement, sound and projection design to explore how time is perceived through sensory experiences. Centered in connection to the Schwebebahn, the piece unfolds as a sensory environment where the train becomes a metaphor of time: shifting rhythms, images, and physical states. The suspended structure of the train becomes a central metaphor – simultaneously grounded in linear motion and floating in uncertainty.

GRASP invites the audience to experience time that is felt rather than measured. The work dwells in in-between states – where past and future overlap, and where perception becomes fluid. Through its visual and sonic landscape, GRASP reflects on the human desire to control time while revealing its inherent instability. It approaches time not only as duration, but as something shaped by environment, memory, and collective rhythms and energies.

The piece has an emphasis on ecological transition and cultural transformation by considering time not merely as a measure, but as a perceptual and political construct that informs how we act, live, and relate to our environment. Change is not only about rearranging what exists, but about rethinking relationships, temporalities, and modes of perception. The work proposes the time as a key element to open perception for desires, liberating force for transformation.

Concept, choreography and dance: Ada Freund & Julie Pollet
Composition, sound design: Maja Prill
Video design: Menni Renvall

Friday, 16 October 2026
7:30pm
Tickets: wuppertal-live.de

The international scholarship programme Dance Research NRW enables dancers, performers and choreographers to undertake residencies lasting several weeks for theme-based, production-independent research.