TA APHRODISIA — /ancient Greek, neuter plur./:
1. Aphrodite’s things. 2. Pleasures whose energy tends to exceed.
Each piece of Aphrodisia constitutes a fragment of a bigger narration in which the spaces, rituality and private actions of the home become moments to consolidate friendships, to empower the body, catalysing new visions in which political imagination becomes an erotic act.
Like combat sports, Aphrodisia focuses on the contact between two athletes and devises functional training for developing visions and intensifying the pleasure that one gets from them.
Therefore Aphrodisia can be seen as training made by 5 objects where the domestic space is its gymnasium – the ancient Greek location dedicated to the physical and philosophical training of the individual for public life.
EXERCISES
Exercises are conceived for an “us”, whose minimum unit consists of two friends. Here, friendship is meant as a relationship which is both erotic and political, i.e. able to make daily life more intense and transform the polis. Performance time varies from one athlete to the other, but the exercises can be repeated indefinitely and must be performed often in order to develop technique, flexibility and strength.