Book release »Studies on Squats« by Yon Natalie Mik

Yon Natalie Mik will release her publication Studies on Squats on the 30^th of January. The book uses the multifaceted posture of the »Asian Squat« as a lens to examine broader concepts of migration, illness, and resilience. In Studies on Squats, the body – in its most vulnerable and potent states – becomes a speculative site for reclaiming agency through new forms of protest that draw from ancestral strength, humor, and eroticism. This posture, rich with cultural resonance, provides an entry point to imagine ways in which the body can engage in acts of defiance against systems of oppression.

The evening will also showcase processes and explorations from the Dance and Resistance class at the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design. Sharing movement, text and sound elements, the artist and her students invite the audience to consider how dance and choreographic thinking can serve as tools for envisioning alternative futures where artistry empowers change.

Studies on Squats was realized within the context of a cooperation fellowship with ABK Stuttgart and was co-published with Archive Books. It is the fifth book of the Die Frau mit 50 Füßen series, edited by Cristina Gómez Barrio and Wolfgang Mayer (performance project Discoteca Flaming Star), focusing on both collective and individual artistic practices relevant to the Department of Fine Arts / M.F.A. Body, Theory, and the Poetics of the Performative.