WAYS TO

/session 1 - 29.04 → 02.05

a collaboration of Zohra Mrad & Jana Kaulmann
on reframing our experience of pain, through the art of tattooing

" As part of their residency at Casino Display, artist Zohra Mrad presents a series of events reflecting their conceptual approach to artistic practice.

This first session, developed in collaboration with Luxembourg multidisciplinary and tattoo artist Jana Kaulmann, takes the form of a listening session based on a filmed performance in which the artists tattoo one another.WAYS TO /session1 unfolds from this recorded moment.

Alongside sound fragments from the film, visual elements from the performance are shared with the audience. Building on this material, Jana Kaulmann opens a conversation around the motivations behind tattooing, inviting participants to reflect on and share their own experiences.

The first session engages with the ritualistic dimension of tattooing, the intention behind what one chooses to mark on one’s body, the flow state it can induce, and the way it creates a space to consciously encounter and reframe the experience of pain within the body. " Filipa Lima

☼

opening the 29.04

photo : Zohra Mrad

On this first activation of the Casino Display during my residency, I had the chance to invite Jana Kaulmann for a collaboration , a filmed simultaneous tattoo performance, long talks and unlimited coffee. A lovely few days where we mapped out : WAYS TO transcend the violence of the world we live in - through the art of tattooing. It resulted in 2 main steps : tattooing each others legs simultaneously in front of the gallery's vitrine, recording every bit of it, then staging/installing the documentation of it on our main public event/activation the 28.04.2026.
On that opening, personal written notes for Jana's research was collected as well as endless discussions with different visitors.

Embracing the need to show work in progress and pushing meta references always a little further, the documentation of the performance was screened on latex gloves & the sound of the intimate tattoo session distorted live by the tattoo machine itself on a spring reverb. Installed in a way to honor the "too much cables laying around, too much gloves and plastic for a single tattoo, a machine too loud, drony, noisy to easily to communicate with someone else".
A nice bath of noise.

A special thank you to Jana Kaulmann for this amazing collaboration, Soraya Meftah for assisting me and to Charles Rouleau for helping us capture all the sounds during the tattoo performance.

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