Reimagining Places

Peter Vadim investigates ways of reimagining places to question existing norms.

At present, his method explores how daydreams poetically connect beings and places, aiming to bridge inner and outer worlds. His work is driven by love and care for the overlooked and marginalized – the abject. By revealing the beauty of the abject, Vadim challenges dominant norms, embodying this through choreography, mapping, film, and model building.

Vadim’s method is called Daydream Dialogues. It consists of three component methods: Shared Daydreaming, Naked Embodiment, and Conveyor of Abjection. You can read more about the methods here.

Daydream Dialogues in Dueodde, Bornholm. Peter Vadim is guiding a group of people into the vast area of dunes to daydream. It was a part of Klippekroppe, Performing Landscapes, 2023, by Metropolis and BIRCA. Photo by Verner Kjærsgaard

“Daydreams transport the dreamer outside the immediate world to a world that bears the mark of infinity (Gaston Bachelard, Poetics of Space).”

“Abjection is a concept in critical theory referring to becoming cast off and separated from norms and rules, especially on the scale of society and morality, (Wikipedia)

THE ABJECT, abjection (Kristeva): Our reaction (horror, vomit) to a threatened breakdown in meaning caused by the loss of the distinction between subject and object or between self and other, (https://cla.purdue.edu/academic)

Daydream Dialogues, Naked Embodiment in Dueodde, Bornholm in connection with Klippekroppe, Performing Landscapes by Metropolis and BIRCA. Photo by Morten Sarkisian

Peter Vadim is a dancer and choreographer from The Danish National School of Performing Arts, working freelance in dance/theater/workshop productions both in Denmark and abroad since 1994.

Identifying as genderfluid, Vadim was actively involved in the gender political group dunst from 2001 to 2007. In 2018, he wrote the article “dunst 2001-07: Aesthetics of Abjection,” published in Peripeti, a magazine for dramaturgical studies, marking his artistic exploration of abjection since 2001.

In 2014, Vadim earned a degree in landscape architecture (cand.hort.arch), specializing in the relationships between bodies and places. Since 2015, he has worked as an arts and architectural educator. He collaborated with the University of Copenhagen and the University of Cape Town, coauthoring articles in 2020 It’s all about art and 2021 A Microtopia of Arts Education.

Since spring 2020, Peter Vadim has been artistically active on Bornholm, a Danish island in the Baltic Sea. Here, he has coordinated and participated in various events, fostering the artistic and cultural community in collaboration with local theaters, art communities, and cultural groups like BIRCA, Kobbegaard, Cirkusbygningen i Sandvig, Dragekompagniet, Bornholms Theatre, Lyngbo and Bornholms Museum.

From 2021, Vadim has been engaged in productions with Metropolis, Copenhagens International Theatre. Among others he is participating in Performing Landscapes, may 2025.