The Body as Research Instrument is a body work course developed by Ulrike Scholtes for iArts Maastricht (Academy of Arts Maastricht). Through different forms of body work – such as physical theatre / mime, Viewpoints, Laban-Bartenieff Movement System, Somatic Movement and Butoh – students become aware of their body as their most important instrument for doing research. As a (future interdisciplinary) artist, students develop a specific practice; a practice that is specific to their individual work, consisting of research, methodology, style, materials, social relations, performances, presentations, expressions and so on. These practices are not isolated from our surroundings, but they are situated in a certain context. Therefore, as artists, students are social beings whose knowledge and skills depends on the way in which they engage with our environments. Hence, their work, processes, thoughts, sensitivities and ideas should not be considered as isolated, but as highly situated. Therefore, they can benefit from becoming aware of their specific way of engaging with the world. The course departs from the premise that the way in which we move through, relate to and attune ourselves to our environment depends on the way in which we use our body. When performing artistic research practices, we always use our bodies (in certain ways and in others not). Hence, in order to sensitize and attune ourselves to our practice’s needs, we train our body awareness. In the course we work with 5 topics: 

1.     Inside the instrument: opening up the blackbox 

2.     Outside the instrument: placing the instrument in space

3.     Attuning

4.     Processing

5.     Caring for (and with) the instrument

We alternate studio body workshops with documentation workshops. For the documentation workshop paper objects were designed that engage different documentation practices to help students move the embodied knowledge and awareness acquired in the studio to their daily artistic practice. Each workshop comes with a unique paper object that is attuned to each topic and the form of documentation students practice.