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Nathan Schneider
2026-03-25 13:43:05 -06:00
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content/interviews/dombois-kite_flying.md
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--- ---
narrator: Florian Dombois narrator: Florian Dombois
subject: Kite Flying subject: Kite flying
facilitator: Johannes Bennke facilitator: Johannes Bennke
date: 2026-03-16 date: 2026-03-16
approved: 2026-03-18 approved: 2026-03-18
summary: "An artist uses wind as a medium for choreographing more-than-human relations through kite flying and sailing." summary: "An artist uses wind as a medium for choreographing more-than-human relations through kite flying and sailing."
location: "Zurich, Switzerland" location: "Zurich, Switzerland"
#headshot: "first_last.png" headshot: "florian_dombois.png"
topics: [wind, wind tunnel, kite flying, performance art, choreography, score, composition, geophysics, Switzerland, Venice, more-than-human] topics: [art, ecology, music, science]
links: links:
- text: "World Wide Winde" - text: "World Wide Winde"
url: "https://worldwidewind.org/" url: "https://worldwidewind.org/"
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ What interests me in artistic creation is what I cannot control. For me, the mos
I am therefore not entirely in the Brechtian tradition, because I do not work with a stage in the strict sense. There is no defining line in my work. The wind negates all walls---and then there is no longer a clear transition. This is a continuation of various traditions of the twentieth century. I try, as Vanessa Machado de Oliveira so beautifully puts it, to practice "Hospicing Modernity"---to help modernity pass away, because it truly has many problematic moments. Keyword: colonialism. How do we get out of this? The ephemeral, the processual, the collective---these are interesting movements that have roots, for example, in Brecht, who created his theater in the 1920s and 1930s with a group. The tradition lies in Fluxus and in the parts of the visual arts that are unsuitable for the art market---performance art. I am therefore not entirely in the Brechtian tradition, because I do not work with a stage in the strict sense. There is no defining line in my work. The wind negates all walls---and then there is no longer a clear transition. This is a continuation of various traditions of the twentieth century. I try, as Vanessa Machado de Oliveira so beautifully puts it, to practice "Hospicing Modernity"---to help modernity pass away, because it truly has many problematic moments. Keyword: colonialism. How do we get out of this? The ephemeral, the processual, the collective---these are interesting movements that have roots, for example, in Brecht, who created his theater in the 1920s and 1930s with a group. The tradition lies in Fluxus and in the parts of the visual arts that are unsuitable for the art market---performance art.
Through my studies in geophysics, I lost my fear of bureaucracy and science and discovered them as a space for me to explore. One might perhaps speak of a "Gaia Bureaucratia," similar to a "Gaia Scientia." In play, there are also rules so that room for maneuver becomes possible---and playing can also mean overcoming or breaking the rules. Protocols don't have to be taken too seriously either. Bureaucracy is a disaster when it confronts you like „The Captain of Köpenick." But it has also made a lot possible: transparency and protection against arbitrariness. I believe that despite all criticism of bureaucracy, formalization doesn't necessarily have to be an obstacle. I try to use protocols as a means of enabling reality---as a loss of control. Through my studies in geophysics, I lost my fear of bureaucracy and science and discovered them as a space for me to explore. One might perhaps speak of a "Gaia Bureaucratia," similar to a "Gaia Scientia." In play, there are also rules so that room for maneuver becomes possible---and playing can also mean overcoming or breaking the rules. Protocols don't have to be taken too seriously either. Bureaucracy is a disaster when it confronts you like "The Captain of Köpenick." But it has also made a lot possible: transparency and protection against arbitrariness. I believe that despite all criticism of bureaucracy, formalization doesn't necessarily have to be an obstacle. I try to use protocols as a means of enabling reality---as a loss of control.
In fact, the phrase "loss of control" deserves a longer discussion: What do control and loss of control mean in relation to the word "protocol"? I'm interested in the aspect of loss of control. But it's like with a sailboat: you need the sail. With the sail, you don't control the wind, but use it. With the centerboard, you don't control the current, but use it---and you even use the competition between the two, because they can't agree, and then you can go wherever you want. In fact, the phrase "loss of control" deserves a longer discussion: What do control and loss of control mean in relation to the word "protocol"? I'm interested in the aspect of loss of control. But it's like with a sailboat: you need the sail. With the sail, you don't control the wind, but use it. With the centerboard, you don't control the current, but use it---and you even use the competition between the two, because they can't agree, and then you can go wherever you want.
@@ -159,32 +159,3 @@ Because we do this every month, it creates an openness: I don't have to make exa
Now we might turn to another aspect we haven't yet addressed: the final publication. All experiences are formulated in the form of a protocol. Artistic research, as I understand it, is a contribution to the arts. How can I pass on my experiences to you as an artist---and do so in a way that doesn't close everything off by saying, "Now make the same kite," leaving you with practically no artistic freedom! But rather in a way that allows you to do it yourself and find your own form. Now we might turn to another aspect we haven't yet addressed: the final publication. All experiences are formulated in the form of a protocol. Artistic research, as I understand it, is a contribution to the arts. How can I pass on my experiences to you as an artist---and do so in a way that doesn't close everything off by saying, "Now make the same kite," leaving you with practically no artistic freedom! But rather in a way that allows you to do it yourself and find your own form.
The recipe is, of course, an obvious choice---it's not entirely unrelated to the protocol---but I don't want the recipe either, because the point is not to reduce imagination, which is what the recipe tends to do. A step more abstract: We describe the materials, how to come together, what kinds of kites there are, and create a mix of photos and descriptions---fact sheets about the things we've made, purely documentary. Then we open up the space through semi-poetic protocols: "Invite all your friends at the same time"---that sort of thing. Protocols that show they can tolerate deviations and still be exemplary. Exemplary is, after all, nothing other than site-specific. The recipe is, of course, an obvious choice---it's not entirely unrelated to the protocol---but I don't want the recipe either, because the point is not to reduce imagination, which is what the recipe tends to do. A step more abstract: We describe the materials, how to come together, what kinds of kites there are, and create a mix of photos and descriptions---fact sheets about the things we've made, purely documentary. Then we open up the space through semi-poetic protocols: "Invite all your friends at the same time"---that sort of thing. Protocols that show they can tolerate deviations and still be exemplary. Exemplary is, after all, nothing other than site-specific.
Thank you very much.
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