"The 'room' is autonomous and erratic. Only the ones who are willing to step across the threshold and lean closer towards it will hear its message."
After touring gallery spaces, theater attics and post-industrial halls, Imre Vass’ newest process-oriented work will inhabit the intimate space of Trafó’s Cabin!

Reading the Room is an improvisational and performative practice that invites the audience to witness a journey that investigates precarious routines of increasing the sensitivity of attention. It tries to braid multiple strands of information and possibilities, and weave them into one singularity. 

The performer is a host who is familiar with spending time in the 'room'. At first glance the 'room' looks empty, normal, nothing spectacular. The guide has the knowledge and skill to draw attention to the specificities of the space, so that we can start to see it as the 'room'. The 'room' is a concrete yet abstract place, where your perspective is shifted from the mundane to the magical and metaphysical. Where new narratives and insights can emerge from 'stalking' the room while with the help of the performer, the spectators can sink into their own bodies and selves.

The term 'reading the room' refers to an ability to pick up subtle, non-verbal cues from a group of people, understanding the mood and the atmosphere of a social situation. In addition to this, the performance explores how locality – the physical parameters, the genius loci and the context of the place where it takes place – informs the performance.

Imre Vass is an independent performing artist, dancer and choreographer, based in Budapest. “I host environments for a non-harmful exploration of the comfort zone, to overcome the uncomfortable while tuning, training and sharpening the muscles of attention. Playing with expectations, flirting with ambiguities and obvious choices while swerving away from the mainstream I intend to liberate energies of the participants of the event (both performers and spectators).” He has created several performance works, among others IITTHOONN (2019) co-created with Dávid Somló, for which they received the Péter Halász Award, while his performance Game Changer (2021) in collaboration with Tamara Zsófia Vadas and Csaba Molnár won both the Rudolf Laban and Péter Halász Awards.