I am working on a new installation that highlights the impact we each have on the world and on non-human life. We cause so much pain.

Check out Chris Jordan's TED talks and his artwork.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjK0cvbm20M
Then cry. Then change what you do. Here are some tips:
https://myplasticfreelife.com/plasticfreeguide/

The installation features 5,000 recycled clear plastic water bottles from UNCW campus, selectively collected over the course of 3 months. Every bottle represents a bottle I have bought. According to 'ban the bottle' https://www.banthebottle.net/bottled-water-facts/ the average US American uses 165 plastic bottles per year. That number seems low to me, but what it means is that by the time we are 35, we have used as many bottles as there are in my installation. I personally, have used almost twice that many, it took me 20 years. And my installation only looks at plastic water bottles, not the plastic wrappers our food comes in, plastic that our clothes and shoes are made of, the plastic that our toys are made from, the plastic that all the useless shit is made from, the plastic that our entire society is wrapped up in.  

Globally, according to Forbes, people buy 1 Million plastic bottles a minute. Per MINUTE! 91% are not recycled.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2017/07/26/million-plastic-bottles-minute-91-not-recycled/#2cc34496292c

​We live in denial. We don't care enough, we don't feel enough. We are surrounded by plastic, it is nearly impossible to get away.
​
So we can enter this installation and write a letter to water. We can enter and be confronted with our very own impact on the world around us. Come see a reflection of your life, or at least, of my life.  A tiny part of my carbon footprint.

More info about my installation will be coming as things develop. 
Currently, I am looking for an exhibition location where the installation can be up for several months.


Photo by Ryan Mulder.

​I was most interested in exploring how these historical events shape our race relations now, how the horrors of 1898 still affect how we interact with each other across race lines in Wilmington, NC. It explores the thoughts and feelings that arise between people when they are faced with interacting with someone of a different race: bringing to light through movement the invisible processes that occur in these relationships. The creative process has been focused on both building the finished product and on forging new paths of authenticity in race relations within the cast. In some sense the cast of "The Invisibility Project" has been used as a microcosm of the greater community and my hope is that this project will jump start many more deep, authentic, and important conversations about the nature of race relations in Wilmington, NC.

As a black woman, having space to be heard and work through /process some of the issues and trauma of 1898 and current racial discrimination was the most healing part of the project. Through dialogue and discussion we were able to grow not only as individuals but as a whole group

The Waking Life is a project created by Wilmington based artist Luis Adorno near the start of 2014. Created as a personal project based around samples and found sounds, The Waking Life has grown to be a one man show with visual art, original music, remixes of songs, and aspects or performance art drawing inspiration from multiple genres of music and styles of art. Since its inception, The Waking Life has released a steady stream of music and performed throughout North Carolina, as well as Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, and NYC. Upwards of 20 EPs and full albums have been recorded with an album with NYC based artist, PYRON, being scheduled to be released in the Winter of 2017/2018. ​

As the performance of "The Invisibilty Project" in SARUS festival fall eqinox draws near I am becoming more and more deeply affected by the sheer volume of thoughts, feelings, and body sensations that I have been holding and exploring for the last year and a half. My Facebook newsfeed has been trained to send every internet article on white privilege, cultural appropriation, and the effects of racist propaganda to my overwhelmed eyes everyday. I sometimes want to squeeze my eyes shut and pretend that we have fixed this already. I long to be transported to the ever elusive "kumbayah" moment when all the races live together in harmony seeing each other for all their fullness of strength and vulnerability. I long to be comfortable. Isn't this what we all want? We as the white community rail against the white supremacists and the Neo Nazis that have emerged from the shadows in recent months because their visibility has shattered our ability to believe in the comfort of having moved past our shameful history. We want so desperately to believe that "we are better than this". We want to render our white privilege invisible. We want to personally be able to lay it down and take it up again at will like some invisible accessory without acknowledging the institutions and history that has made it more like a tattoo.  A tattoo that is all too visible to my African American peers who feel the effects of these legacies in every aspect of their lives. They cannot and should not deny and minimize these realities any more than a victim of domestic violence should. In my field of social work when we encounter a battered and bruised woman do we tell her that she has not been hit? That she must have imagined it? Of course not. Yet we look at our African American co-workers, neighbors, and business owners who bear the wounds of racist ideologies at work in our society and claim that nothing has happened, that "we are better than that". How they must desperately long for that to be true so they can finally begin to heal from the intense anger, frustration, and sorrow that comes from being on the receiving end of centuries old violence. How they must long for true safety. No matter what we tell ourselves, no matter how much effort we exert to obey the old adage of "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" we cannot escape the fact that our American history of racism and oppression has shaped how we see ourselves and those around us. There is a first appraisal, a first, almost involuntary, visceral response that occurs when we encounter someone who looks like our ancestors' respective slave or master. 
​
In the 1890's the residents of Wilmington tried to move forward, tried to forge ahead and past their own "kumbayah" moment and their horrific failure lives in the Port City's current institutions. Those of us who live and work in the city feel it. We don't always know quite what to call it but we feel it. Throughout the process of making "The Invisibility Project" the cast has had many difficult conversations regarding this phenomenon. We have tried to honor our initial responses, staying with what happens in our minds and bodies before we tell ourselves it's not ok to respond that way. We have committed to remaining authentic with one another, knowing that we cannot move forward unless we are honest about where we are. My only hope is that the audience will be willing to follow our lead, for while it is messy and uncomfortable it is more than worth it to conquer the cognitive dissonance of our ancestors that led to the massacre of 1898. This is so very important. For as the current propaganda ramps up, if we don't take a deeply honest look at ourselves and make changes in our hearts and minds we will be destined to fall right in the footsteps of the previous residents of the Port City and the river will again be plagued with our dead.

Souls create to express themselves..to understand... to connect. ..to work through trauma. Some of the topics addressed in this Fall equinox festival deal with racism. thought we'd have tackled and overcome by now...well , no. Ever more obvious. The festering boil just popped open again. Maybe racism is rearing its ugly head as it is injured and dying... or maybe we ought to listen up and become aware of its persistence.

We are all equal. We are all siblings. Why do we still hate, kill, torture?

Come discuss and overcome racism at SARUS Festival: Fall Equinox. Join in and give us hope that we will embrace love and keep our hearts open.

​Karola.

By Karola Luettringhaus

'We need to eat every day.
We need to breathe constantly.
We need to drink every day.

Why would we think any differently about our need to move? 








​
We need to move every day. 
But what does that mean, 'we need to move'? Does it mean walking to your car, to your office, to the grocery store, sitting down, writing, making food, etc? or does it mean we need to move every joint mindfully and creatively, for the purpose of allowing this system to do what it does... Our bodies are extremely complex collaborative systems that all serve very important purposes. The calves are considered 'the second heart', as they significantly support blood flow back to the heart, against gravity (if we remain upright), helping the veins stay healthy. The lower leg musculature and fascial tissues, as they stretch, contract, release, wind and unwind, support the heart as it tries to pump blood through the body. They support lymph flow, which does not have a 'heart' and solely relies on the mechanical pumping action of the muscles, etc. in order to stay limber we need to allow our body's joints to 'experience their lives fully', ...

I like this: 'Allow your joints to live their lives fully, unhindered, no stress, no restrictions...'
​
If you are honest with yourself, how do you feel sitting at a desk, when do you start to feel stagnation in your circulation, stiffness in your joints? I can feel it after only 20 minutes.

We are a constant work in progress: an ever changing organism, constantly responding to demand. no day is like any other. Once established things don't just remain the same, they change. If you stop putting demand on the body it will respond and stop production of bone and muscle. It will support your habits of sitting or standing all day, building fascial support, helping you lock into a position rather than allowing for  mobility and flexibility.

So movement is like eating, drinking and sleeping. As important, as enjoyable. as necessary. Let's move. Let's see what our body suggests as to how it would like to move.... But more on that next time.

SARUS Festival will offer opportunities to move, to be yourself, to join others moving. There are classes, participatory performances, outdoor events where you move along... Come be a part of it this year: September 21-24, 2017!

​Karola Luettringhaus
​(general director/founder)

If you stop putting out work, people will forget about you. Competing to be heard in this loud, colorful digitized world is impossible. It is impossible to rest, to feel like you have reached your goal. Sisyphos... You have to love uphill struggles to do what we do. You have to love the uncertainty, the floating.

So we go with the flow. So we continue to put our money on human interaction, on offering real time experiences, on slowing down in between fast stretches.

So we continue to offer. Will you stop to listen, will you stop to contemplate? Communicate? participate? Recognize?

sarusfestival.org for more information

I am so very excited about the upcoming SARUS Festival events:
SARUS FESTIVAL FALL EQUINOX September 21-24, 2017 and
SARUS FESTIVAL SPRING EQUINOX March 22-25, 2018.

We have two new directors! The team is growing and our dedication to process, experimental work, and to intellectually satisfying expression is exhilarating to me!
Breanne Horne is heading the FALL EQUINOX events and Luis Adorno is heading the SPRING EQUINOX events. You have seen these wonderful people as performers of past SARUS Festivals and they are now adding their creativity to the leadership of the overall festival programming. I can't tell you how beautiful it is to watch this festival take flight. 

IT HAS BEEN 10 YEARS SINCE THE FIRST SARUS FESTIVAL in 2007!!!
And: it's Alban Elved Dance Company's 20 year anniversary!

You will hear from us again soon..... And make sure to come see us in Wilmington, NC in September and March.

​Karola.

www.starnewsonline.com/news/20160629/sarus-festival-traffics-in-the-beautiful-and-the-unusual  

I spent all weekend with guest artists Naomi Greenberg and Samuel Taylor rehearsing for our performance at UNCW on Friday, July 8th 7:30pm at Kenan Auditorium. Amazing people, amazing work.Very grateful for this opportunity. Thank you Kristen Brogdon for inviting us to share our work at UNCW. Photos and video  from rehearsal coming soon...