The night starts with ConTatto. ConTatto is a performance that explores intimacy through the love story of two men, one of whom became disabled following a spinal stroke. The work invites reflection on how love and care manifest through the body and within shared space, suggesting that intimacy is not merely a private experience, but a universal language of relation, attention, and presence. The choreography takes shape from the archetypes of “postures of love,” unfolding as a dance of slowness — suspended between breath and silence, attuned to the smallest details. Through a process of embodied research, gestures of intimacy — holding and being held, leaning, offering, and receiving — are transformed into archetypal forms, generating a poetic, profound, and shared resonance that conveys the essence of care and human connection. At the heart of ConTatto lies a radical slowing down. Stillness and slowness become perceptive tools, allowing the performance to unfold as a sensitive field — open to contemplation and deep listening. Within this suspended and intimate space, the audience is invited to explore their own emotional landscape, to encounter their personal perceptions of intimacy, care, and love. A central element of the work is the desire to deconstruct visual and spatial hierarchies. The audience sits on the floor, always at the performers’ eye level. ConTatto is an intimate, porous, living space — where every gesture becomes a love letter, every breath a caress. An invitation for those who witness to turn inward, to sense the echoes of their own tenderness, distance, and desire. In its silence, the audience is invited to listen to themselves —to feel where love resides within their own bodies, and how closeness and care might take shape anew.

Choreography: Federica Dauri
Dramaturgy: Hanna Schaich
Performers: Luca Della Corte, Alain Nouchy
With the support of: Centro di Residenza della Toscana (ArmuniaCapoTrave/Kilowatt) Comune di Sansepolcro
Production Residency: Carrozzerie | n.o.t.
DANCE ON TOUR project by Tanzquartier Wien in cooperation with the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs.

The panel discussion “Assembly for Care: HIV Justice Today”, moderated by Madi Awadalla and part of the Viral Intimacies public programme id conceived as a community gathering. The event addresses the politics of care with a focus on HIV justice and solidarity practices, bringing together service providers, artists, activists, and community members working at the intersections of sexual health, harm reduction, nightlife, and community care. Artistic contributions and performances will accompany the conversation.

Speakers

Motta / Epidemi.c
Based in Berlin and born in Bogotá, Motta is a member of the LoveLazers collective, dedicated to community support and the fight against HIV stigma. They are also a children’s rights and animal liberation activist, continuously exploring deidentification as a political practice.

Carolina Espinoza
A Latinx trans activist and community organizer, Carolina has been advocating for trans rights for over a decade. She currently works in awareness and care roles within Berlin’s sex-positive party scene, where she promotes safer spaces and harm reduction practices.

Mati Klitgård
Mati is a researcher, facilitator, and community organizer based in Berlin. They hold a PhD in Gender Studies and write on queer (counter)cultures, care and intimacy, queer ecologies, and political theory. In 2022 they founded the Gay Consent Lab, an initiative exploring consent, care, and pleasure as well as violence and loneliness through workshops and community events on queer sex cultures and structural oppression.