Unlike conventional artist residencies, A Space for Attunement creates a temporary pause from the rhythms of everyday artistic practice, inviting artists to reconnect with their bodies, the spaces they inhabit, and the environments in which they find themselves.
Through small-scale, low-intensity gatherings and performance art practices, participants will recalibrate their perceptions through listening and interaction. They will explore connections between different artistic perspectives and cultural contexts, while reflecting on the relationships between humans and their environments. The gathering opens up a space for exchange and practice grounded in critical inquiry within contemporary art.
About the Gathering
A Space for Attunement is facilitated by SUAVEART, together with Club9, a performance art organization from Catalonia, to co-organize a two-day closed-door gathering. The event will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, 3–4 November, at ArtFlow District, Shanghai.
Centred on performance art, the body, presence, and cultural exchange, the gathering invites artists to step away temporarily from their everyday creative routines and reconsider the relationships between themselves, the spaces they inhabit, and others.
Through mediation, dialogue, creative exercises, and collective practice, participants will draw on embodied experience and spatial perception to explore how gestures, texts, objects, and metaphors can serve as mediums for artistic expression and exchange. Across different cultural backgrounds and artistic contexts, they will develop new understandings and possibilities for collaboration.
Rather than a workshop oriented towards the presentation of finished outcomes, this gathering offers a small-scale, non-public space for exchange. Through shared participation and attentive listening, artists will experiment with alternative creative approaches, exchange practical experiences, and reconsider their own artistic languages, as well as how artistic practice continues to evolve through interactions with others and the environment.
Venue: Artflow District, Shanghai
Address: No. 4058, Cao’an Highway, Anting Town, Jiading District, Shanghai, China
Dates and Time: 3–4 November, 10:00 AM–5:00 PM each day
| November 3 (Tue) | November 4 (Wed) |
|---|---|
| 10:00-10:15｜Opening by SUAVEART, ArtFlow District and Club9 10:15-10:45｜Talk I: Performance Art in Catalonia by Oscar Abril Ascaso 10:45-11:00｜Exchange / Q&A | 10:00–11:00｜SPACE AND SITE SPECIFIC (Collective practice outdoors) Neus Masdeu and Oscar Abril Ascaso will lead participants in a morning of performance-based research in the city’s public spaces. This involves observing the spatial structure, environmental characteristics, historical traces, and social dynamics of a specific location. |
| 11:10–12:10｜PERFORMANCE AND PRESENTATION Oscar Abril Ascaso and Neus Masdeu to present excerpts from their performances or documentation of past projects, offering participants insight into the practices, approaches, and evolution of performance art in Catalonia (30 minutes each one). | 11:10–12:10｜WRITING AND MANIFESTOS (Collective practice outdoors) Writing and manifestos based on the outdoor research with Neus Masdeu and Oscar Abril Ascaso. Participants will translate their morning exploration into text. Led by Neus Masdeu and Oscar Abril Ascaso; exercises based on their performance work. |
| 12:10-13:30 Lunch Break | 12:10-13:30 Lunch Break |
| 13:20–14:30｜ICEBREAKERS AND EXERCISES：Club9 Introductory activities and exercises: A welcoming warm-up and group practice: through simple, interactive, improvisational, and sensory-based exercises, we will foster trust and communication among participants. This allows the body, focused attention, and group dynamics to serve as a starting point for the creative process. | 13:30–14:30｜ONE ON ONE SESSION： SUAVEART、Club9 Through one-on-one conversations, participants receive feedback on their creative concepts, experimental processes, and presentation methods. This helps them define the direction of their work and reflect on the discoveries and challenges that emerged during the creative process. |
| 14:45–17:00｜OBJECT AND METAPHORE：Club9 The Catalan artists will guide participants through various performance exercises based on their own artistic practice. Drawing on the work of Neus Masdeu and Oscar Abril Ascaso, participants will develop and present an individual performance piece for the group, with guidance from the artists (Neus Masdeu session: 60 minutes; Oscar Abril Ascaso session: 60 minutes). | 14:45–17:00｜PRESENTATION AND SHARING OF PARTICIPANTS：SUAVEART、Club9 Participants present their proposals—whether behavioral, performative, or site-specific—and exchange perspectives through collective observation and dialogue. The focus is not solely on the completion of the work, but also on sharing the experimental process and the individual learning experiences of each participant. |
Who Can Apply
Artists interested in performance art, experimental practices, and cross-cultural exchange
Capacity: Up to 12 participants
Participation Fee: RMB 99 per person for the two-day programme, including speaker fees and administrative costs. All other expenses are to be covered by mited to a small number of participants.
Who Can Apply
The gathering is open to artists interested in performance art, experimental practices, and cross-cultural exchange. Artists from diverse disciplines and backgrounds are welcome. No prior experience in performance art is required. Whether you are seeking an initial encounter with performance art or looking to expand your existing practice through interdisciplinary exchange, we encourage you to apply. We value curiosity, openness, and a willingness to engage in collective exploration and dialogue.
How to Apply
Please submit a brief personal introduction and an overview of your artistic practice, explaining your interest in performance art, interdisciplinary exploration, or cultural exchange. We look forward to bringing together artists from diverse backgrounds to explore new possibilities for artistic practice and exchange through pausing, listening, and creating together.
Contact: itsSUAVEART@gmail.com (Once your submission has been received, we will send you the participant registration form.)
About Artists
Oscar Abril Ascaso (born 1966 in Barcelona, Spain) is an artist, cultural producer, curator, and art historian whose work focuses on contemporary art, performance art, sound art, new media, and studies of performativity.
He graduated in Art History from the University of Barcelona and has been active in Spain’s contemporary and experimental art scenes for decades, with a sustained commitment to advancing performance art and interdisciplinary practices.
He was a founding member of Club7, a Spanish platform for the promotion of performance art, and co-curated the sound art festival Zeppelin. From 1998, he was responsible for exhibition programming at Sónar, Barcelona’s festival of electronic music and multimedia arts, for thirteen years.
Between 2005 and 2006, he co-curated CopyFight, a project on free culture and intellectual property, with the Elastico.net team, exploring the relationships between art, digital culture, and knowledge sharing.
From 2014 to 2015, he served as Artistic Director of LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial in Gijón, Spain, where he continued to support contemporary art, new media, and interdisciplinary creative practices.
As an artist and cultural practitioner, he has long explored the relationships between sound, music, bodily action, and performativity. Through curating, research, artistic production, and educational programmes, he continues to expand the possibilities of performance art within contemporary cultural and social contexts.
Currently, through initiatives including Club9 and PARACAIGUDISME, he continues to advance performance art research, production, and international exchange, fostering mobility, collaboration, and knowledge sharing among artists across different cultures and geographical contexts.
Neus Masdeu (born 1995 in Arenys de Mar, Spain) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Barcelona whose practice spans visual art, performance, and installation. She graduated from Escola Massana, Barcelona, and continues to explore the relationships between performance, everyday objects, and lived situations.
Drawing on her surroundings and everyday life, Masdeu transforms streets and ordinary settings into spaces for experimentation and play through found objects, bodily actions, and interventions in space. With humour, ingenuity, and a gentle narrative approach, she examines productivity, the rhythms of work, consumer culture, and the relationships between people, objects, and their social environments.
Her practice takes diverse forms, including participatory performances, installations, sound works, and food-related projects, often inviting audiences to participate in the creation and experience of the work.
She has participated in a range of significant festivals and artistic programmes, including Barcelona’s GREC Festival, POESIA I+, Katharsis at Teatre Lliure, BAM Cultura Viva, and the TNT Festival in Terrassa.
In 2023, she participated in Club9’s PARACAIGUDISME programme, presenting Aplaudir amb les mans tancades at Casal Solleric in Mallorca. In 2024, she presented Seitons Masdeu Hola i Adeu at Teatre Lliure in Barcelona and participated in BAM Cultura Viva.
Alongside her independent practice, Masdeu has undertaken residencies at artistic institutions including Nau Estruch and Roca Umbert. She is also involved in artist support, artistic production, and curatorial work. She curates the performance art series 4X4 at Sala Taro in Barcelona and participates in arts education and cultural mediation programmes, continuing to explore the possibilities of interdisciplinary artistic practice and public participation.
About Club9
Club9 is an artistic production company based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, specialising in performance art and related creative practices. Its core mission is to foster research, production, presentation, exchange, education, and artistic mediation within the fields of contemporary performance and performance art, while encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration.
Club9 is committed to building professional networks and partnerships that create new opportunities for artists. It also works to introduce diverse performance art practices to wider audiences and to strengthen Barcelona’s position as an important centre for contemporary performance art in Europe.
Club9 founded NauEstruch, Spain’s first production centre dedicated to performance art. It currently organises ARTefACTe, a platform for contemporary performance practices, and PARACAIGUDISME, an international programme that facilitates the mobility and cross-border exchange of performance artists.
In 2026, PARACAIGUDISME wishes to open a new line of mobility for Catalan performance artists in Asia. For this, CLUB9 is working to complete a residency project for two Catalan performance artists in Shanghai. The project is completed in collaboration with SUAVEART.
About Artflow
Artflow is located in Jiading District, Shanghai. Established in 2019, the art district is home to Tai Art Museum, Tai Art Center, an art storage and collection facility, as well as a diverse artistic ecosystem comprising artists’ and designers’ studios, photography production spaces, and other creative facilities.
With a planned total area of 200,000 square metres by 2030, the district aims to develop a multifaceted art ecosystem serving the public, collectors, artists, galleries, museums, and other cultural organisations. Bringing together art, lifestyle, exhibitions, exchange, art trading, collections, auctions, and art finance, it aspires to become a new landmark for the arts, rooted in the Yangtze River Delta and extending its reach across China.
About SUAVEART
SUAVEART,a research-based curatorial institution, focuses on environmental, nonhuman perspectives, and nonplace issues within island contexts, exploring the intersection of art, science and life. Its earliest form began in 2008, with long-term engagement in Southeast Asian exchanges. Formally established in 2015 in Taiwan and has since concentrated on cross-cultural and transnational collaborations through exhibitions, cultural research, artist residencies, workshops, forums, and other multidisciplinary programs.
SUAVEART is currently a member of international initiatives concerned with climate change, ecological environments, and cultural heritage, including the pan-European heritage alliance Europa Nostra, Climate Heritage Network and the Preserving Legacies network community.
Organizers
SUAVEART, CLUB9
Co-organizer
ArtFlow District
Community Partners
FreeHeart, Insular City Zine, Art SEA
Supported by
Institut Ramon Llull, Oficina de Suport a la Iniciativa Cultural (OSIC), and Instituto Cervantes in coordination with Letravia Intercultural
