We are a membership forum of curators, artists and scholars, collaborating as a research and knowledge exchange network across disciplines, cultures and locations
Berit Fischer (PhD) is a curator, researcher, artist, writer, and an editor with focus on experiential and socio-ecological knowledge formation, critical spatial and transformative emancipatory practices. She is the founder and curator of the (Re-)Gaining Ecological Futures festival that critically engages with the human-centred ontology and the dualism between nature and culture at the Floating University, Berlin. 2016 she founded the Radical Empathy Lab, an on-going nomadic socio-ecological and research laboratory for experiential knowledge formation. Berit is a founding member of the Urbane Praxis e.V. and holds a practice-based Ph.D. from the University of Southampton, Winchester School of Art. She has been working and publishing internationally for over two decades. Previously based in New York and London, she now works from Berlin, Germany. http://www.beritfischer.org https://floating-berlin.org/programmes/re-gaining-ecological-futures/
Minou Tsambika Polleros (MA) is a dance artist and researcher, curator and producer based in both Vienna and the South West of England. Her works are outdoor choreographic interventions and site- specific research projects. She is a founding member of the Movement Network South Wes dedicated to dance and ecology practices, she is an external reviewer for the Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices and she acts as new regional director for the Institute of the Study of Somatic Communication in Europe. Minou was the convenor of the Sentient Performativities symposium and acted as former co-director of art.earth. Minou is dedicated to the study and development of eco-embodied knowledges, practices and its wide applications. www.minoutsambika.com
Insta: @minoutsambika photo: Alice Bell
Raffaele Rufo (PhD) is a somatic dance practitioner, a mediator and facilitator of artistic and cultural processes, and an independent scholar working with eco-embodied arts as a vehicle for individual and social transformation. His background is rooted in socially inclusive practices and cultural community development. Across twenty years of professional experience, Raffaele was involved as teacher, researcher, choreographer and performer in a wide range of participatory artistic and pedagogical projects in Europe and Australia. Raffaele currently collaborates with Teatro del Lido in Rome where he facilitates eco-oriented citizenship participation processes and where he has recently co-directed ‘La Selva’ International Ecological Arts and Eco-Somatic Residency, funded through Intercultural Roots “Human-Nature Connect” programme (UK). He is co-editor of the special issue of the Journal of Embodied Research on Ecologies of Embodiment. www.raffaelerufo.com Photo: Valentina Vitolo
Thomas Kampe (PhD) has worked as a performing artist, researcher and somatic educator across the globe for 40 years. He has participated in and directed intimate installations and large-scale participatory site responsive performances since the early 1980’s. Between 2012 and 2022 he worked as Professor of Somatic Performance & Education at Bath Spa University, UK, where he co-directed the Creative Corporealities Research Group. Thomas is a practitioner of The Feldenkrais Method® and guest-editor of the IFF research Journal Vol. 6 (2019): ‘Practices of Freedom: The Feldenkrais Method and Creativity’. He recently co-edited JDSP Vol. 13.1 &2 (2022): ‘Embodying Eco-Consciousness: Somatics, Aesthetic Practice and Social Action’. www.thomaskampe.com https://thomaskampe.wordpress.com/
Alina Ușurelu is a PhD candidate in Visual Arts at West University in
Timișoara. An interdisciplinary artist-curator, a creator-facilitator of transdisciplinary
research processes, working across photography, videography, installation, performance, and somatic practices. She plays with images, bodies, and words to open doors to unseen worlds for various communities. The themes she addresses in her artistic proposals include sexuality and sexual identity, mental health, community development, and kinship with the
more-than-human world. You can find more about her projects on
https://www.alinausurelu.com/
Claire Loussuarn is an ecological movement artist, facilitator, filmmaker, herbalist, forager,
anthropologist, and writer. Her work composts the cultural scripts that told us we were
separate from nature, asking what it takes to let our bodies move like creatures again and
dialogue with the more-than-human world as kin.
Over eight years of sustained movement practice on Hackney Marshes, a common land in
East London, she has developed a unique methodology crystallised in her book How to be
feral: movement practices to re-wild your body (Triarchy Press, 2024). Six of those years were in collaboration with filmmaker Dominique Rivoal, resulting in We are plants, we are grass, we are Hackney Marshes — a four-screen immersive film installation with 3D sound.
Rooted in the non-stylised movement practice of Amerta, Claire regularly facilitates outdoor
movement workshops that help people attune to the land’s rhythms and its more-than-human companions, gently dismantling the modern myth of separation from the natural world. https://claireloussouarn.com/
Dila Yumurtacı is an interdisciplinary artist, researcher, and facilitator exploring alternative
modes of being and relating within a more-than-human world. She is a doctoral candidate at Católica University in Porto, with an FCT scholarship (2024–ongoing), and holds a BA in
Cinema and an MA in Visual Arts. Her recent project, Becoming With—a site-sensitive
performance integrating local performers through ecosomatic methods—was presented at
the Serralves Museum (Porto, June 2025) and the Sabancı Museum (Istanbul, September
2025).
Rebecca Marta D’Andrea is a somatic-based movement artist based in northern Italy. Her
ecosomatic research explores creativity as a gateway to multi-dimensional reality, nurturing
organic ways of relating to self, others, and the Earth. Through the interplay of perception and imagination, she invites a rediscovery of embodied knowledge and a sense of belonging to a wider Self. She graduated in Choreography at Dartington College of Arts (UK), studied at SNDO Amsterdam, explored Grotowski’s methods in India with Milon Mela Theatre Company, and deepened her Contact Improvisation practice at P.O.R.C.H. Ponderosa. In 2016, she earned a Master’s in Creative Practice through Trinity Laban (UK), Independent Dance, and Siobhan Davies Studios, deepening her commitment to healing our relationship with the planet and the universe we are part of. Today, she designs interdisciplinary labs and creates performances in collaboration with other artists, weaving movement, writing, and ritual into poetic and regenerative spaces for transformation. https://rebeccamartadandrea.wordpress.com/
Sebastian Bechinger is an artist, dramaturg, and Somatic Movement Educator in Body-
Mind Centering®, based in London. His artistic research focuses on intersections of
embodiment, ecology, neuroaesthetics, and performance.
Besides Body-Mind Centering, he has also studied the Six Viewpoints (the work of Mary
Overlie), Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies, and Chinese Martial Arts. He holds a BA
Hons in Choreography with Community Practices from Dartington College of Arts. He is
currently studying an MA in Gestalt Psychotherapy, deepening his psychophysical fluency
and psychologically informed education and facilitation practice.
Signa Schiavo-Campo is a poet and performer with an academic background in Philosophy
and Anthropology. She is the co-founder of the Colombian NGO Embodying Reconciliation,
dedicated to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage and promoting bodily and artistic
practices for peacebuilding. She follows the yoga lineage of Sri Andrei Ram and Sri Dharma
Mittra, and is trained in Thai Massage with Ata Baechler, Mindfulness with Breathe
International, and Feminine Sexuality from tantric and Taoist perspectives with Camila
Barrera. She is a member of Ebb&Flow, an art collective focused on participatory eco-embodied practices, and co-leads Kin&Shift in Milan, an experimental space on somatics and arts for collective well-being and cultural transformation. She regularly contributes to international projects, courses, and retreats. Her research integrates embodiment, ecosomatics, and eroticism, celebrating the entanglement of the web of life and the immanent spirituality of being alive.
Ellie Jung-ah Son (PhD) is a researcher, curator, and writer exploring the intersection of ocean science and art theory based in Copenhagen. Her practice focuses on interdisciplinary artworks and workshops that generate inclusive relations, embracing more-than-humans and technology to form participatory public spheres that contribute to shifting anthropocentric thoughts. Working with data as medium, she recreates maps and translates data into sensory experiences. She has extensively worked on artworks addressing species extinction and climate crisis since 2013, collaborating with artists and scientists to experiment with ways of co-living. She is particularly interested in maritime species and directed the art-science project A Playground for Porpoise (Seoul, 2022-2023). She works at an intergovernmental organization and also operates as an independent scholar. She is currently investigating how Post-Anthropocene discourse can reconceptualize oceanic data to imagine alternative forms of ocean commons. website: jung-ah.digital
Dr Beatrice Jarvis is a choreographer, somatic practitioner, and interdisciplinary researcher whose work is grounded in an attentive relationship with land, body, and the more-than-human world. She is Course Leader for BA Dance and Senior Lecturer at Kingston School of Art, where she cultivates pedagogies rooted in
embodiment, listening, and ethical presence. Her practice-based PhD explored somatic movement in post-conflict landscapes, and her AHRC-funded MA at Center
for Community and Urban Research ( CUCR, Goldsmiths) integrated choreography, spatial inquiry, and ecological thought. Her research has been presented internationally, including at dOCUMENTA (13) and Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.
Beatrice publishes on somatic ecology, maternal embodiment, Gaelic language and land, and choreography as a practice of care. She is completing certification as a
TRE® practitioner, extending her work into trauma-aware facilitation. Across her practice, movement operates as a mode of ecological listening, shared responsibility,
and reverent response within uncertain planetary conditions.
Weblink https://www.kingston.ac.uk/about/staff/dr-beatrice-jarvis
Miriam Althammer (Dr. phil.) is a dance and performance scholar and artistic researcher working at the intersection of embodied archival practice, listening methodologies, and feminist knowledge production. Her research explores how bodies remember and transmit histories through movement, sensation, and relationality. Grounded in historical and archival research with a focus on Central and Southeast Europe, her practice draws on oral histories, re-/pre-/enactments, and collaborative strategies to examine how bodily practices shape political imaginaries and collective memory. Based in Salzburg, where she works at the University of Salzburg, she is involved in transnational research, artistic, and curatorial collaborations, including the CEEPUS network Arts in Motion. As a core member of IFEEA, her current explorations extend toward eco‑somatics, embodied resilience, and breathwork. https://www.plus.ac.at/kunst-musik-und-tanzwissenschaft/abteilung-musik-und-tanzwissenschaft/die-abteilung/personen/wissenschaftliches-personal/miriam-althammer/
Isabella Altoé (PhD) is a researcher, writer, and cultural worker based in Kingston, Canada. She works in the convergence of contemporary art and multispecies studies, in particular, creative projects that include more-than-human beings as participants, collaborators, and audiences. She is drawn to practices that are in motion, that spread beyond the art world, and that invite public reflection to promote new ecological and social alliances. Her research approach is informed by her experience as an ethnographer, cook, and amateur gardener, drawing from post-colonial perspectives that challenge Western views of ecology and art. For the past years, she has been collaborating with artists and institutions from Brazil, South Korea, Canada and Germany, investigating artistic practices that incorporate more-than-human agents into the artmaking process. linktr.ee/izzyaltoe
Shahriar Khonsari is an academic and professional in the fields
of photography, art, and communication for development. He is based in Iran and works as a freelance researcher. He holds several Master’s degrees, including an M.A. in Photography from the University of Art, Tehran, and an M.A. in Communication for Development from Malmo University, Sweden. His academic pursuits reflect a deep commitment to using visual media as a tool for social change and development. Throughout his career, Shahriar has held several significant roles. He has been a Research Assistant to Dr. Agnes Devictor at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, focusing on the visual documentation of conflicts such as the Iran-Iraq war and the Syrian civil war. Shahriar’s scholarly contributions are notable. He has authored several books on photography, including “Photojournalism.” His conference presentations span globally, from Helsinki to Paris, addressing topics in media. His articles have been published in respected journals. Shahriar’s work demonstrates a commitment to exploring the intersections of communication, social media and societal impact. https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahriar-khonsari-89651a69/
Stefania Milazzo is a photographer, video artist and curator living in Catania, Sicily (Italy). After her degree in molecular biology, she worked as a researcher in the CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) for cancer field in the UK & Germany. As a performer, photographer & videomaker she has participated in international festivals. Her scientific approach and her 10-year eco-somatic movement experience have always influenced her artistic practice. She has led intercultural projects for children, teenagers & adults with disabilities & migration background. In 2016 she founded the KidiMpro practice – body movement and improvisation for adults and kids. She currently teaches math and science at a school in Catania. She is the director of the Sicilian cultural association Sicularte. https://stefaniamilazzo.com/photography/ https://www.artavita.com/artists/304-stefania-milazzo
Xueting Luo is a researcher in dance and performance whose work focuses on the embodied philosophies, cultural aesthetics and cross-cultural development of traditional Chinese opera dance. She completed her PhD in the School of Performance and Cultural Industries at the University of Leeds in 2025. Alongside her academic work, she has taught and performed at Goldsmiths Confucius Institute and UCLan Confucius Institute, building on an MA in Chinese dance history and aesthetics from the Beijing Dance Academy. She has published research in both Chinese and English, contributing to emerging dialogues on Chinese dance across linguistic and cultural contexts. Her current research examines how embodied approaches in Chinese dance can serve as pathways to philosophical insight, cultural transmission and intercultural understanding, and how they can support both personal and collective well-being. She approaches these questions through a combination of theoretical enquiry and sustained practical investigation.
https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/performance/pgr/3441/xueting-luo
Ellie Nixon. Professor of International Theatre and Performance Director of Film and Performing Arts at Norwich University of the Arts . I am an interdisciplinary researcher, director and performer working across landscape, performance studies, geo-humanities and new materialist thinking. My research examines how landscapes, people and more-than-humans, intersect in a climate changed world, while also developing innovative research methodologies grounded in creative, embodied, and participatory approaches. Through research creation my practice aims to articulate a relationship between ‘bodying’, ‘imagining’ and ‘knowledging’ in which more-than-human bodies, co-produce and reveal new insights for contesting familiar ways of experiencing and being
Dominique Savitri Bonarjee (chi/mer) I am an artist working across physicality, sound, and visual art. Space of the Nameless designates my artistic practice, which explores forms of embodied and ambient knowledge, and how to render bodies porous to it. I create live installations activated through movement and ritual, often using experimental approaches to computational technologies. My project, Butoh Mutations, explores pedagogical aesthetics, by cross-pollinating Butoh and nondual wisdom traditions, to propose innovative forms of participation, collective somatic and spiritual research, and activism. Spaceofthenameless.art butoh.co.uk
Clémentine Antier (she/ her) is a poet, dancer, Somatic Movement educator and researcher. She teaches holistic dance, ecosomatics, movement and writing, and embodied awareness in workshops and individual sessions. She has self-published her first poetry collection, Poèmes Talismans, in 2024. As a researcher, she has worked in agroecology, environmental sustainability, transition management and systems thinking since 2013 and she is involved in the Institute for the Study of Somatic Communication as lead researcher. Photo (c) Ariadne Ferrufino Ecosomatics with Clémentine Antier | Substack
Hiva Sedaghat is a choreographer, and somatic practitioner from Tehran, currently based in the US. She began her journey in contemporary dance through Tehran’s underground scene., Her practice explores the transformative power of dance through improvisation, imagination, and ritual. Drawing from Persian mystic poetry and Eastern philosophy, her recent work investigates ancestral technologies of embodiment, somatic relational knowledge, interdependency, and alternative ways of being together. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HpnMIoeU-4pJgCg2_JgaZW4by7ICFIYK/view
Sharon Stewart is an Arnhem‑based artist and researcher whose work weaves field recordings into sound design and creative listening practices. She also facilitates workshops that support participants in cultivating deeper reciprocal relationships with community and openness to dialogue with the land. As a senior Deep Listening® facilitator, she carries forward the legacy of Pauline Oliveros, IONE, and Heloise Gold through embodied listening, meditation, movement, and text‑score practice. https://sharonstewart.bandcamp.com
[IFEEA] 