In their collective artistic research, Magdalena Malinova and Nitish Jain approach the postcolonial concept of »othering« through embodied, multi-sensory, and performed encounters between anonymous performers and spectators. They combine their backgrounds in devised performance, architecture and dance to create sensory-shelters: where there is agency for tenderness, empathy through touch and togetherness between strangers. Their work interrogates how we relate to those labeled »other,« especially in the context of identity, race, gender, queerness, and normative behavior; and how universal elements like songs, senses, imagination, and embodied perception transcend boundaries of otherness, emphasizing what is visceral and human.

During their residency, they will facilitate workshops to continue their research on »Together With the Other«. Participants will explore themes of anonymity, vulnerability and touch in performed encounters. Participants will collectively reflect on ideas of care, slowness, and »touch« as radical practices. Open to individuals 18 and above, the workshops welcome diverse backgrounds, inviting artists, caregivers, singers, migrants, and others to test the material and share their stories, tactile gestures, and songs.

Nitish Jain, an India-born artist based in Czechia, works across architecture, performance, storytelling, and object-making. Trained as an architect and scenographer, he creates multisensory experiences, engaging audiences through touch, taste, smell, sound, and vision. Drawing from Indian rasa aesthetics and phenomenology, his work explores fatigue, rest, post-coloniality, and the climate crisis, fostering connections between human and ecological wellbeing.

Magdalena Malinová, a graduate of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, is a dancer, performer, and researcher. Her work explores rest, morning rituals, and somatic experiences, using the body’s sensory and fictional resources to communicate with the unseen. She draws strength from hospitality and culinary practices, fostering care, togetherness, and slowness as vital tools for resilience in today’s fast-paced world.