International Forum on Artistic Research
17th Conference of the Society for Artistic Research (SAR)
Submission Number: 89
Submission ID: 132
Submission UUID: 0c867d4a-ab5d-4139-9a91-fcfff3deb901

Created: Tue, 17 Feb 2026 - 14:18
Completed: Tue, 17 Feb 2026 - 14:39
Changed: Wed, 13 May 2026 - 08:29

Remote IP address: 91.181.121.74
Submitted by: Anonymous
Language: English

Is draft: No
Current page: webform_confirmation

Flagged: Yes
Given name Sara
Surname Vermeylen
Email vermeylensara@gmail.com
I understand that by submitting this form, I consent to the use of my data for the purposes of the 2026 Forum on Artistic Research'. Yes
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Title IKKE NI (Sit Down, Stand Up)
Format Performance
Main language English
Abstract Sitting down and standing up are such elementary gestures that we forget they perform a social choreography. Depending on context, these actions can signify obedience, resistance, attention, solidarity, threat, humility, rest or elimination. During a residency in Berlin (2024), I started exploring how sitting down and standing up operate in my cultural context, from the commands I internalised as a child to displays of dominance. This pre-verbal language of power plays out in institutional rituals (“All rise", "You may be seated", "Please stand for the national anthem”), in playground elimination games (musical chairs, last one down is out) but also in acts of care (sitting at someone’s bedside, rising to embrace, crouching to meet a dog’s eyes). Every time we sit or stand, we reposition ourselves in relation to others. My research aims to articulate the language embedded in this vertical movement, and to disrupt its automaticity. When the automatic grows strange, things become interesting.

I propose to share my practice through a 15-20 minute lecture-performance in which spoken word alternates with instructions. The audience will be asked to sit and stand repeatedly, under different verbal framing. I unpack the choreography of sitting and standing as a social script, while simultaneously demonstrating it. The format is experimental, simple, and politically urgent.
Image Sara Vermeylen_SAR conference.png
Short biographies of the presenter(s)
  • Sara Vermeylen is a student in Fine Arts at LUCA School of Arts in Brussels. She has a master's degree in linguistics and literature. Her research-based practice works across media, often engaging language as material to explore how meaning takes shape and how it can be destabilised.
Previous presentations or iterations of the research Spring 2024: Durational pieces in which I sat down and stood up for hours on end, aiming to empty the gesture of meaning. August 2024: Improvisation during "Mäandern:::meander" residency at Flux I Bell (https://fluxibell-structurs.org/). This improvisation marked a turning point, I began examining how verbal framing activates the power embedded in these gestures. This 2026 contribution will be the first iteration that explicitly stages sitting and standing as a language of power.
Additional information
Spatial and technical requirements a chair per person
Potential risks or ethical concerns
Create a user account for SAR 2026 Yes
Create new user Sara Vermeylen