Animalarium´s Constellations

Animalariums’ Constellations: A Multisensory Journey Through Climate, Place, and Collective Imagination

As the climate crisis accelerates and futures feel increasingly uncertain, the role of art in making sense of this moment has never been more vital. Animalariums’ Constellations, a performing arts project selected for Perform Europe 2025*, weaves together choreography, language, song, and collective experience. Developed by the female-led collective Animalarium, the project creates improvised, embodied spaces in which burning global questions are felt, witnessed, and transformed.

At the heart of Animalariums’ Constellations is an exploration of climate change not as an abstract issue, but as something deeply rooted in specific places and lives — human and non-human alike. Through a series of workshops and performances, the project engages with the local ecologies, cultures, and histories of underrepresented areas situated between urban centers and rural peripheries.

In 2025, Animalariums’ Constellations will journey to Norwegian Sápmi, Sweden, and Austria, including the Arctic landscapes of Guovdageaidnu and its indigenous Sámi community, the post-industrial site of Ställbergs gruva (a decommissioned iron ore mine), and the Future Farm at the edge of a growing Vienna. These sites shape the energy and focus of each performance through their unique social and ecological contexts. Creating a series of performances named Constellation #2, Constellation #3 and Constellation #4. The first Constellation #1 Dawn Obliges Us To Dream was premiered at 3:eVåningen September 2024.    

The project is a collaboration between Animalarium, Elle Sofe Company, Ställbergs gruva, and WUK performing arts, with support from Perform Europe, Swedish Arts Grants Committee, Davvi – Center for Performing Arts, and Dáiddadállu.

Embodied Questions, Improvised Responses

Each iteration of Animalariums’ Constellations poses questions on countdown, extinction, and who is allowed to dream and what can their dreams be? 

Instead of offering scripted answers, the performances emerge as living, breathing responses. Using the improvisational method Choreo-Constellating — developed by Liv Schellander and Animalarium — performers physically interpret themes selected in real-time by the audience. The performers don’t know in advance which topics have been chosen. When they enter the stage, they encounter the unknown — and respond through movement, language, and voice.

This artistic practice transforms the performance into a contemporary ritual: a collective act of storytelling, listening, and meaning-making. Each event is unique and ephemeral, shaped by those who gather and the place in which they gather. The performative constellation, as the artists describe it, is a living cartography, a sensory sculpture, and a space for embodied reflection.

A Practice for Our Time

At its core, Animalariums’ Constellations is a proposal for how we might meet the complexities of our world — not by rushing to solve them, but by being present with them. Through improvisation, somatics, and collective embodied care, the project invites new forms of awareness, interconnectedness and artistic expression.

In a cultural moment often defined by urgency, overload, and disembodiment, Animalariums’ Constellations offers a radically different rhythm. One that listens, moves at the speed of breath, the pace of presence. One that reminds us that in the face of extinction, dreaming is a form of resistance.

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*Perform Europe – an EU initiative that aims to reimagine international touring

Perform Europe, supported by the European Union, is a funding scheme for the European performing arts sector. It facilitates international networking and supports inclusive, diverse, and eco-friendly touring projects across the 40 Creative Europe countries. Perform Europe emphasises practices rooted in sustainability and inclusivity, aiming to transform the performing arts sector and ensure a balanced distribution across the continent.

Perform Europe is co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union and implemented by a consortium of six organisations: IETM – International network for contemporary performing arts, European Festivals Association (EFA), Circostrada, European Dance Development Network, Pearle * – Live Performance Europe and IDEA Consult.