The Insisting Body

The Insisting Body: Chor(e)ographies of Erasure and Return traces violence not as a singular event but as a force extending across time, place, and the body itself. Each day, the performer inhabits Berlin’s charged sites where layers of historical and contemporary violence are inscribed, erased, or ignored. This becomes a chorography—from the Greek chōra (place) and graphein (to write)—a writing of places through the body.

Through repetition, slowness, and exhaustion, hidden architectures of violence surface. Aligned with lunar cycles, the work refuses capitalist linearity, embracing rhythms of shadow and illumination. Through spatial choreographies, visual interventions, and embodied cartographies, the project reconfigures histories, mythologies, and migrations, inviting audiences to reflect on their relation to memory, time, and persistence.

Michael(a) Daoud is an interdisciplinary artist exploring time, space, body, and identity through sculpture, choreography, and performance. With roots in Egypt and Syria, their work critiques dominant narratives of gender and migration, blending fiction and reality into dreamlike environments. Shown internationally, Daoud uses art as activist expression across stages, streets, and installations.@michaela_daoud @the.insisting.body
Website: www.michaeldaoud.net & www.theinsistingbody.com