Can a horizontal posture in disposition to rest contribute to rethink the verticality of the human in front of other species?Could it be a clue as to how a less hierarchical interspecies exchange could take place?

Rapport, Horizontal Encounters is a performance in which I sleep in a sheep pen to learn from sheep and unlearn from power.

Often considered submissive and compliant, I learned that sheep, and prey in general, often have rectangular pupils, a trait that gives them a panoramic view. Could this horizontal vision entail a more relational way of understanding themselves with other members of the flock and the surrounding environment — perhaps even a shared agency?

Investigating non hegemonic narratives around animal agencies and collective power structures, I have been wondering if there is the possibility of anarchy within a flock of sheep.

Seeking to fall asleep in the presence of a group of sheep is a poetic act of adaptation and surrender that aims to experimentally rethink the animal-human relationship through a negotiation of hierarchies and a change of posture; an attempt to synchronise with interspecies communication channels and eco-centric rhythms.

Rapport, Horizontal Encounters is an artwork that aims to re-think power structures and to tune in with non violent possibilities with humans and more than humans. Because as Maria Fernanda Moscoso once taught me, it’s hard to think about improving our relation with other species, when still some humans aren’t considered or treated as humans. A time of sustaining and articulating multiple struggles, and of rethinking so many things.

Thanks to the sheep for their trust and rebelliousness, to Christian Salablanca for his artistic support, to Rafiki for patiently filming me and to Patricia Bentancur for the accompaniment and guidance. ‘Acta de conciliación’ is the second work I presented at ArtFest 23 as a result of my residency at CAMPO, Garzón Uruguay, in December 2023.