Lukas Hofmann has intrepidly taken on the art of visual performance, styling, design and spinning tracks, becoming a master of various trades (and a jack at none). Having collaborated with many forward minds in the past—think: fashion designer Anne Sofie Madsen, composer Holly Herndon and singer/producer Dan Bodan—the multi-talent is adding another name to his well-rounded list. Tying bonds with Berlin-based brand Ottolinger, he recently set up a performance in a former Bauhaus superstore in the Czech city of Ostrava, where visitors were met with spiritual bends and immersed into an emotionally moving experience. Titled Dry Me A River—literally baring resemblance to the ’90s hit ballad—the performance figuratively addressed current social-political themes of containment, connectedness, misplacement and separation. The styling granted an intricate aesthetic layer, emphasizing the overall destructive narrative. 

In some of the acts, the audience was physically involved. Upon entering the space, members from the audience had sage and thyme balm rubbed on their temples, representing a form of ritualism and signaling their entrance into a zone that is entirely detached from the outer world—a zone of silence and containing a certain spiritual quality. In a different act performers embraced audience members without making any physical contact. To me, this felt very emblematic of today’s individualistic society; people feel the need to heal and embrace while also keeping their distance as to respect the private spaces of others. The use of technology in the performance revealed the often-perceived divisive quality of technology and the ability it has to provide vital information [on or about someone].