Showing posts with label designs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label designs. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

it aint over till its over

My newest production with bigNOTWENDIGKEIT premiered in late May in Berlin.

This turned out to be an approximate 90 minutes performance, in which Esther Becker creates a chain of associations that pulsate around the theme of how and why things come to an end. Danijela Milijic is creating an excistence of her own by monotonic and ceaseless counting.

Since this was not a theatrical set up as such anymore, the request for light and sound was somewhat bit different also. Me and sound designer Alice Ferl were asked to produce a different level of being with our media. The space was turned into an experimental laboratory where we try out and execute our own compositions and adaptations of possible "ends".

I used quite a lot of very subtle chasers and painstakingly slow fades to interact and contrapunkt with the soundscapes Alice created. As result we have a space which has a life of it's own and is swaying, pulsating and flickering in a barely noticeable way. Everything is also run manually, so no two shows are quite the same and there is always room for improvisation and possibility to interact with Esther. 

All this is obviously quite impossible to see in a 2D photographs, but I will try to post a video as soon as the editing is finished to sample the idea better.


Description in German by bigNOTWENDIGKEIT:
"Das Ende ist präsent. Szenarien vom Ende begleiten uns täglich. Unermüdlich werden Enden proklamiert. Es ist das Ende der Geschichte, das Ende des Klassenkampfes, das Ende der Philosophie, das Ende des Christentums und der Moral, das Ende des Subjekts, das Ende des Menschen, das Ende des Abendlandes, das Ende des Ödipus, das Ende der Welt, Apocalypse now...


...Die Apokalypse gehört zu unserem Handgepäck. Sie ist ein Aphrodisiakum. Und sie ist ein Angsttraum. Sie ist eine Ware wie jede andere. Sie tritt uns in allen möglichen Gestalten und Verkleidungen entgegen, als warnender Zeigefinger und als wissenschaftliche Prognose, als Weckruf und als Produkt der Unterhaltungsindustrie, als Aberglauben, als Vexierbild, als Kick. Sie ist allgegenwärtig aber nicht wirklich: eine unaufhörliche Produktion unserer Fantasie, eine Katastrophe im Kopf. bigNOTWENDIGKEIT fassen das Ende näher ins Auge....

 

...Was ist das Faszinierende am Ende? Warum wird es bemüht? Was macht Enden zu Enden? Und was endet je wirklich? Ist die letzte Schwalbe das Ende des Sommers? Ist die erste Lüge das Ende der Liebe? Ist das Ende eines Romans der letzte Satz? Ist das Ende eines Films die letzte Szene oder der Moment, wenn der Abspann vorbei ist und das Licht im Kinosaal wieder angeht? Ideen von, Erinnerungen an und die Angst vor Enden werden befragt und ertragen. bigNOTWENDIGKEIT untersuchen ausgesuchte Enden aus Literatur, Film, Historie und Kunst auf ihre verschiedenen Qualitäten. Was lehren sie über Aufhören, Weitermachen und Neu-Anfangen?....
 

...Enden können Angst machen und sie können erleichtern. Sie können etwas wegnehmen, aber auch den Weg für etwas Neues öffnen. Erst vom Ende her können wir Dinge deuten und bewerten. Erst das Ende schafft Struktur und ermöglicht Anschauung. Soviel steht fest: ob angekündigt oder überraschend, ersehnt oder gefürchtet, unvermeidbar oder herbeigeführt: Das Ende ist nie eine Tatsache, sondern immer eine gedeutete Tatsache vor dem Horizont anderer Tatsachen...


...Der letzte Vorhang ist noch nicht gefallen. Und ist nicht das Interesse für das Ende ein leidenschaftliches Interesse für´s Weitergehen, für die Fortsetzung, die Umkehr, den Anfang, für ein Leben in größerer Fülle als bisher? Ob angekündigte Weltenden, das Ende der Kindheit, das Ende der DDR, ob Black, Tod, das Happy End, der Abschied, Zerfall, der Vorhang, der Countdown, das Fade Out, der Schlussakkord, die Katastrophe, die Lösung oder die Vollendung – in Gesten, Erzählungen und Bildern werden Enden von bigNOTWENDIGKEIT heraufbeschworen, seziert, zelebriert, und neu montiert....


...Der Countdown läuft. Das Ende ist nah."


Regie: bigNOTWENDIGKEIT (Anna K. Becker & Katharina Bischoff)
von & mit: Esther Becker, Danijela Milijic
Dramaturgie: Heike Pelchen
Bühne: Ina Vera
Licht: Minna Heikkilä
Musik/Sound: Alice Ferl
Assistenz: Anne Herwanger
Produktionsleitung: ehrliche arbeit - freies kulturbüro


Next show dates:
18., 19., & 20. September:    Rote Fabrik Clubraum, Zürich, CH

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Glaube, Liebe, Hoffnung

Faith, Hope and Charity : A Little Dance of Death in Five Acts

This is a story of Elisabeth, a young woman with serious financial problems. She tries to overcome these by attempting to sell her future corpse already while still living. She finds out fast that this is not allowed, but the a worker at the anatomical institute feels sorry for her and lends her the money anyway. Turns out that Elisabeth already got the necessary amount of money from somebody else and she is therefore sentenced as a scam artist. She swears that she intended to return the borrowed money to all parties as soon as possible and meant to scam nobody, but people don't really believe her. Her epic-love relationship with ambitious young police officer comes to an abrupt end when he finds out about her mischievousness. Devastated and at loss of solutions, the penniless Elisabeth chooses to commit suicide to escape the situation.
 
Original time frame of this play by Ödön von Horváth is the 1930's, a time when poverty, abuse of the social power, economical crisis and corruption were part of everyday life. Director Dalit Bloch sees throughout parallels to present time and wants to encourage the spectator's recognition of this, therefore the place and time of adaptation is abstract. The dialog of the play remains in it's old form in the hope that by choosing this approach, it is possible to dissolve the distance the audience might feel. Modern set design together with old-fashioned speech builds a bridge from the old days to present day.






 















Freies Theater Therwil
Direction: Dalit Bloch
Set design: Dalit Bloch (concept), Andres Jost
Lighting design: Minna Heikkilä
Costume design: Kurt Walter
Assistant: Nathalie Grignaschi
text adaptation: Ueli Blum
Graphic design: Diana Schroth

Performers: Diana Schroth, Gabriele Bianco, Markus Spillmann, Peter Brêchet, Michael Enzler, Bri Jost, Werner Kirchhofer, Norina Molina, Claudia Reinhardt, Gordana Schwizer, Nathalie Grignaschi
Premiere: April 12th, 2013, Mehrzweckhalle, Therwil, Switzerland

Monday, October 29, 2012

Summarizing Summer

Well, whooa. Time really flies. So many things have happened within past six months or so. I didn't really manage to blog about them, but maybe now it's finally time for some summarizing. I'm sitting in a truck in Aesch waiting for it to move. Destination London. The load is not quite ready yet, so I have some time to kill here :-).

I've really been on the move lately. I connected with this Swiss choreographer, Alexandra Bachzetsis and therefore I've toured quite a lot recently. Interesting places and few first ones.

dOKUMENTA 13
I did a design for Alexandra's new project in May and the first touring destination with that was dOKUMENTA 13 in Kassel in the beginning of June. A huge event that lasts something like three or four months and fills the whole town with variety of art. We performed with "Etude" on the opening of the expo.

The main things that I remember about dOKUMENTA and Kassel is not art related in any way. The first thing tht comes to mind is the fact that it was cold like in freezer there. The second week of June and I had to buy a pullover from C&A in order to not to freeze myself to death! Brrrhh...

Another thing that is strongly in my memories about Kassel is this brilliant Asian restaurant just next to the Brüderkirche. Went there few times and got always very delicious food. Yummies!

I did some exploration on the art turf too. Met finally M.A. Numminen, famous Finnish musician, in person and fell in love with some South-East Asian kinetic paintings. But to be honest, I mostly felt a little bit disappointed about the selection. dOKUMENTA is supposed to be very prestiguos, but lot of stuff was just plain boring in my opinion.

Finland
I was all in all five weeks in Finland this summer. I was hoping to catch a phenomenal heatwave like the summer 2011 (when I was NOT in Finland), but rats ass, didn't happen. It was basically raining most of the time.

My friend Regine, from Basel, came visit me for a week. I got play the official tourist guide for her first time in Fin. Some real basic stuff like picking berries in the forest, cruise on a lake, smoke sauna etc. All first time ever experiences for her :-).

There was also a wedding of my longest time friend Leila. I was maid of honor and we put together really cool bachelorette party for her. Took her to this spa and entertainment center in Vantaa. Some nice and relaxing treatments, glow bowling for action, tasty Mexican dinner and finally some serious karaoke in the night club. She seemed to enjoy it and I suppose so did the rest of us too.

This year I also managed again to go see the national championships of fireworks. Me and few friends huddled on a cliff in Meilahti on a crisp September evening. This something like a tradition to me and I always try to go see this competition if only I am in the country. There is usually 4-5 teams and they all have composed a choreography of the effects to a four-minute piece of music.

Moscow
I was twice in Moscow within two months. I've neer been anywhere in Russia before.

Moscow really blew me away. It was quite amazing to see for real all those places which one knows from the school history books and documentaries. Moscow was huge and spacious, 4-lane avenues leading into the heart of the city. The red Kreml streching over for hundreds of meters. The statues of Yuri Gagarin, Lenin and Marx. Everything is big there; the cars, jewels, botox and hairdos. Only the famous Red Square seemed insignificant towards all the expectations I had.

Moscow seems definitely socially to be all about status symbols and machoism. The penis extensions are present everywhere. Bigger and shinier cars, Rolexes, diamonds. The city also has everything. You name it, they for sure got it. The only question is if you can afford it. All the western labels and branches are there, only the price is approximately three times higher.

It all also seems to be important to an average higher class Russian. It's crucial to be able to show one's wealth and means. More over so than anywhere in western Europe. Everybody is better groomed in public than we in the west are. In the night-club all the ladies are wearing a dress with (insanely) high heels and 90 percent of them also have a proper hairdo with curls and works. It seems to be expected of you by the society, but it also seems to be something that the girls wanna carry on. They do seem more feminine and sublime. Which is not completely wrong. Sometimes it's good to remember that you actually are a female and dress up, ditching the rugged jeans to the bedroom floor when going clubbing.

All this is of course my personal assumption and you may have a different opinion. No offense meant to anybody. And I'm not saying that I wouldn't like Russia or the people there. Only that this first experiences really had an impact on me and that it was very different from what I was expecting.

And anyhow, the chow over there is brilliant!! Let alone, Beluga vodka :-).

Now the truck is finally moving and it's getting really wobbly. So catch you guys later.

Gone trucking. To be continued....

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Website on the move

I got royally pissed off because of the irrelevant ads and unbearable downtime on my current website location. Therefore I'm migrating to Blogger also with my online portfolio.

Now it is still very tiny and sketchy collection of stuff, but I keep on adding things as I have time. So please visit me in the future also here! Looking forward to hear your comments on the new looks!

This blog I will keep also in the future, but the portfolio at webng.com I will not update anymore. That domain I can't recommend to anyone. Broken promises about adfree pages, ftp not working and the whole site down every other day. Time to move on...

Monday, February 20, 2012

Phase to Phase

Recently I got a chance to work with Gymnasium Oberwil.

At first they requested a light design from me for their upcoming concert project. As we discussed the possibilities, I suggested the idea that the students would create the design themselves. So it turned out that I had to step into the shoes of a teacher. All this was very interesting.

First of all you have to arrange and sort out the thoughts in your head in order to be able to share them with others. This actually resulted me understanding something new about the theory =). Better late than never, yeah?

Anyhow I put together some lectures about the history and physics of stage lighting and also gave the kids couple of afternoon workshops, where they could try the theory and their ideas out. And it's always cool to be able to watch "Pulse" by Pink Floyd during your school lessons, right?

The actual performance was a live concert of minimal music with pieces from Pat Metheny, Paul Smadback, Steve Reich, Morton Feldman and Maurice Ravel. The students of the local Musikschule Leimental were playing and the third year students of Gymnasium Oberwil put together the visuals during their art lessons. The students also had some workshops on VJ'ing, so the end result was a combination of video projections and light.

It's fascinating to work with young people. Or, let's say refreshing. Because they don't yet have the fixed way of thinking and the ideas they come up are sometimes really out of the box. They just don't know the box yet and can think freely. I guess one can say that I got my thinking dusted off. Great!

Below some photos for the feeling of it...

Pat Methery: Phase Dance. "Sunny day on a beach"

Pat Methery: Phase Dance. "Sunny day on a beach"

Paul Smadback: Rhythmsong. "Journey, space, sea"

Paul Smadback: Rhythmsong. "Journey, space, sea"

Ludwig Albert: Japanese Drumming. Students' idea of big multiplied shadows.

Ludwig Albert: Japanese Drumming. Students' idea of big multiplied shadows.

Steve Reich: Marimba Phase. Students' idea of matching and contrasting colors following the flow of the music.

Steve Reich: Marimba Phase. Students' idea of matching and contrasting colors following the flow of the music.

Morton Feldman: Piano Piece. Melancholic video clips chosen by the students.

Morton Feldman: Piano Piece. Melancholic video clips chosen by the students.

Maurice Ravel: Bolero. Ballerina girl dancing on the video. Light stealing in very slowly.

Maurice Ravel: Bolero. Ballerina girl dancing on the video. Light stealing in very slowly.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

2011 Recap part 3: Turn the Page

My biggest design job of this past autumn was "Turn the Page" for bigNOTWENDIGKEIT. We were working on a theme of self-narration and the documents and momories people leave behind them. 



"Turn the page" brings five performers on stage to explore diaries, letters and pictures and the documentary traces left behind by five other lives. Out of these they try to create "ideal biography". Through the stories, they explore the strategies and mechanisms of self-narration and thus throw questions of self-construction, self-presentation and the ingredients for a successful thing perceived as life.

One of the early sketches

The first explorative phase took place in Zürich in October and from there we moved to Berlin in November.

All photos © Gerhard F. Ludwig / fotofisch-berlin.de

 






Monday, January 24, 2011

Busy busy fun On the Kitchen Table

Here is couple of press photos of my latest undertaking. Photographer is Uupi Tirronen / Kuvaunit

I have to admit that I cannot remember when I had as much fun doing a production as this time. The week we had on the actual venue was heavy and tiring, but also very rewarding. It turned out pretty much as me and the choreographer had been discussing all along. 


I hope the fun we had also shows on the outcome. We are hoping to to create a new fusion between the contemporary dance and the music of Mariska. A fusion that would interest wider audiences by combining these two fields. The aesthetical approach lies more along the lines of rock concert than a traditional way of staging dance.

Here's what the choreographer and musician think of the concept:






For getting into the mood:










- Live versions are somewhat more energetic, rock and rough. Come and check it out yourself if you're around in Helsinki this or next week.









ON THE KITCHEN TABLE (event description in Facebook)

Satu Tuomisto’s new choreography sets the table with a feast of fierce dance, flirtatious Finnish tunes, adult games, big hopes and a pile of broken taboos. 


 
The music is composed and performed by ex-rap artist turned grown-up singer-songwriter Mariska, accompanied by her band Pahat Sudet. Four dancers deliver an electric performance with the ever-energetic Mariska and her band. The old factory hall Pannuhalli fills up with dance, music, singing and talking. And at times the silence falls.


The premiere on Sat 22nd Jan will be followed by a unique dance club event. Join in some funky group choreography, let your body do its thing and sample our home-made pancakes! Beats will be provided by legendary Basso radio DJ Selecta Andor. Competitions, surprise performances and more: Don’t miss this one, dance yourself happy! Over 18s only.


Choreography, concept and directing: Satu Tuomisto
Music: Mariska & Pahat Sudet
Performers: Mariska, Luis Herrero, Jaakko Jakku, Klaus Suominen, Satu Elovaara, Elena Ruuskanen, Petri Kauppinen, Teemu Korjuslommi
Light design: Minna Heikkilä
Photos: Marko Rantanen
Production: Zodiak – Center for New Dance, Satu Tuomisto, Mariska & Pahat Sudet



Premiere 22.1.2011 at 7 pm Pannuhalli

Other performances
26.1 at 7 pm
28.1 at 7 pm
29.1 at 7 pm
1.2 at 7 pm


On the Kitchen Table in the Facebook