What keeps us performing is the possibility of touching someone in the audience. An intimate experience unfolding between two people can resonate far beyond them. More than once, someone has come to us afterwards with tears in their eyes.
Kinbaku performances
An invitation
to witness
an intimate encounter
Kinbaku performances
An invitation to witness an intimate encounter
The power of a
Kinbaku Live Performance
For a contemporary performance programme, festival, gallery, club or cultural event, such a Shibari or Kinbaku performance offers something both visually striking and emotionally immediate. It brings the audience unusually close to a real encounter between two people unfolding in front of them, creating tension, intimacy and anticipation.
Because the performance is improvised, the audience is not watching the reproduction of a finished work. What emerges through the rope, our bodies and our responses belongs to that moment alone. Each performance is shaped by the performers, the space and the people witnessing it and cannot be repeated in quite the same way.
A breath, a hesitation, a tremble, resistance, fear, or surrender can suddenly become significant. There is time to notice what is happening between two people and perhaps what it evokes in yourself.
Kinbaku performances
Discover Kinbaku as live performance
We welcome invitations from curators, artistic directors, galleries, festivals and other artists. Whether you are considering an existing performance or imagining something that does not yet exist, we are interested in conversations that allow the work to respond to a particular space, context or artistic question.
Kinbaku performances
Discover Kinbaku as live performance
We welcome invitations from curators, artistic directors, galleries, festivals and other artists. Whether you are considering an existing performance or imagining something that does not yet exist, we are interested in conversations that allow the work to respond to a particular space, context or artistic question.
Two artists. One shared language.
We have been partners in life and rope since 2011. Over the years, Kinbaku has become a language we know intimately, but never completely. It allows us to communicate through touch, movement, tension, resistance, stillness and response without knowing in advance where the conversation will lead.
Our different perspectives shape that language. Alexander’s practice is informed by decades of martial arts and photography, Japanese aesthetics and an ongoing exploration of movement and connection. Natasha’s work centres on the body, sensation, surrender and the lived experience from inside the ropes.
When we perform, these perspectives meet. Years of shared experience give us trust and a rich vocabulary to draw from, while improvisation keeps the encounter open. We do not perform a representation of intimacy. We enter the ropes together and allow something to happen.
The audience is invited to witness it.
INSERT GALLERY / OR Carousell (Pictures will be provided asap)
Then gallery. For this page the gallery needs to show performance:
wide shot showing the space
audience visible
intimate close up
dramatic moment
quiet moment
different venue
interaction between you
perhaps backstage/preparation
and, crucially, video
The pauses in between are
where everything happens.
Questions & Answers
What is a live Kinbaku or Shibari performance?
Absolutely. Our private coaching is designed for complete beginners as well as experienced couples. We adapt every sessionaKinbaku, also known as Shibari, is the Japanese art of rope bondage. In our live performances, rope becomes the medium for an improvised encounter between the two of us. Rather than following a fixed choreography, Alexander ties and Natasha responds in real time, allowing movement, tension, emotion and interaction to develop in front of the audience.to your level and goals.
Is a Kinbaku performance suitable for audiences outside the BDSM or fetish scene?
Yes. No previous knowledge of Kinbaku, Shibari or BDSM is needed to engage with the work. Our performances can be presented in cultural and artistic contexts as well as within rope and fetish spaces. What the audience encounters is both specifically Kinbaku and universally recognisable: two people negotiating trust, vulnerability, resistance, intimacy and control.
How explicit is a Kinbaku performance?
The level of nudity and erotic content can respond to the context. Kinbaku can be powerful without nudity or explicit sexual content, and we are happy to discuss what is appropriate for your venue, audience and curatorial framework in advance. What remains is the authenticity and intimacy of the encounter itself.
What do you need technically for a live Shibari performance?
Our performances can range from floor based Kinbaku requiring very little infrastructure to suspension work requiring professionally suitable overhead rigging points. Technical requirements depend on the performance, venue and space. We discuss rigging, performance area, lighting, sound, setup and safety with the organiser in advance and provide clear technical requirements once the format has been agreed.
How can we invite you to perform at our event or venue?
We are based in Berlin and accept invitations throughout Europe and internationally. We work with galleries, festivals, theatres, clubs, cultural institutions and curated events and are also open to artistic collaborations. Send us some information about your programme or event, location, audience, venue and dates and we can explore what would work in your context.
Planning
something different?
Live music, an unusual space, a collaboration with another artist, an exhibition context or a performance followed by conversation? We are interested in encounters that allow Kinbaku to enter into dialogue with other artistic practices.
Just ask.
Partners in life and rope since 2011, Natasha and Alexander are Berlin based, internationally recognised Kinbaku artists working across performance, photography, writing, education and publishing.
Selected performances
Our work has been presented at festivals, cultural events and independent art spaces across Europe, Japan and North America, including EURIX, NION Japan Festival and performances in London, Prague, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Antwerp, New York and San Francisco.
Open to collaboration
We are interested in dialogue with musicians, dancers, photographers, filmmakers and other artists where Kinbaku can meet another artistic language and something genuinely new can emerge.