Residence week 42 – 43 / 2024

Embodied Kinships: Do One Extend to Trees is a project by Živilė Virkutytė and Katarzyna Maria Wieczorek focusing on somatic movement, mythology-based storytelling, felt sense, soundscape, and nature. By discovering how one’s internal body and emotional landscape connect with forests and natural surroundings, the project brings forth stories, experiences, and collective healing. It honors the roots of life while redefining the relationship between human bodies and the land we live in.  

About the artists

Živilė Virkutytė is a dance and movement artist, trauma-informed Somatic Therapist with certifications in IBMT, BMC, DAM, with a focus on therapeutic aspects of nature, and the biology of complex trauma. She is also a qualified Yoga teacher and practitioner (RYT 300) specialising in Ashtanga yoga and therapeutic yoga. Živilė facilitates various somatic, yoga, dance workshops and retreats across UK, Norway, Lithuania, Latvia, Sweden and France. As a co-founder of LESS STRESS, she is dedicated to providing a safe and supportive space for healing. Her life-long expertise in psychology, mysticism, personal trauma healing guides individuals towards interdisciplinary well-being and more integral life.

Katarzyna Maria Wieczorek is a Polish-Norwegian composer and sound designer, based in Trondheim, Norway. Wieczorek has a musicology & music technology background from NTNU, Trondheim. Since 2020 she works with music both for herself and others and often collaborates interdisciplinary with visual artists and dancers. In 2021 she started developing the collective project Brainfeels– a project which visualizes and conveys different mental states. Wieczorek often uses alternative ways of connecting data with music, and experiments with timbre and scales. She also works with field recordings, programming and blending various instruments with noise. Her music is often described as a film soundtrack and her goal often is to provide a space where listeners find themself comfortable and free to experience emotions. Wieczorek’s way of working often includes improvisation with synths and vocals, and oscillating between technology and folk music traditions. With her work, she tries to build a bridge between the new technology and the storytelling using raw material and acoustic instruments and voices.

Supported by

LESS STRESS, DansiT, Gyvo Žalio & International Society of Forest Therapy.