claudia bosse / theatercombinat

september 2016 – april 2018 - research / a performative practice in urban space urban laboratory IDEAL PARADISE ukraine by claudia bosse / theatercombinat in cooperation with urban curators, kyiv, kharkiv, vienna (ukr/a).

dossier
selected press

link to the series of interventions: applied poetics in urban space

part of the cycle: (katastrophen 11/15) ideal paradise

further projects in the series IDEAL PARADISE:
- a first step to IDEAL PARADISE
- a second step to IDEAL PARADISE
- a third step to IDEAL PARADISE
- urban laboratory IDEAL PARADISE
- IDEAL PARADISE clash
- IDEAL PARADISE
- IDEAL PARADISE shifting space
- the last IDEAL PARADISE düsseldorf/essen
- the last IDEAL PARADISE jakarta

urban laboratory IDEAL PARADISE ukraine is a performative research process in collaboration with urban curators kyiv, a collective of architects and urbanists, together with international and interdisciplinary artists and experts until spring 2018. the process is focussing on physical investigations and interventions in and in correlation with public space as well as on "mappings" using different media: an inventory of legal aspects, historical, architectural and political dimensions and an observation of urban structures. the "urban laboratory IDEAL PARADISE ukraine" transfers methods of urban laboratory IDEAL PARADISE in vienna towards the ukrainian cities kyiv and kharkiv and develops them. how can public space be re-appropriated? under consideration of the specific architectural conditions? the history and the techniques of a subversive use of public space in times of political struggles are part of the research. new knowledge as well as installative and performative applications should be derived. how is accessability and utilisation of urban space possible? which alternative utilisation can be developed temporarily? experiences gathered in vienna will be reviewed, advanced and documented in kyiv and kharkiv. a final presentation and lecture of the documents will follow in vienna.

about the process:
the first research trip to kyiv, lviv and kharkiv took place in september 2016, a next deepening research phase with claudia bosse and günther auer in kiev took place in december 2016 to prepare the interventions together with the urban curators. from 15th– 20th may 2017 applied poetics in urban space, a series of interventions in urban space, will take place in 5 different areas in kiev along metro line 2: starting from maidan, the central square of the city, the in-situ-choreografies will explore moskovska square and kontraktova square and then reach towards the suburbs teremky and obolon. the series will close where it began, on maidan square on may 20th. during the interventions the body will become an instrument, the public space will become an open studio of physical learning: what are the practices and rhythms inscribed in spaces and in our bodies? how can daily routines be disrupted? how can we create resistant communities with our bodies?

in following the trace of water in kharkiv, a city in eastern ukraine near the russian border, a source with "holy water" will become the central point of a videomapping, following people carrying water from the public source into their private apartments, creating a network of traces throughout public space.

FOLLOWING THE TRACE– artistic mappings in kharkiv and kyiv:
in april 2018 the methods and results of urban laboratory IDEAL PARADISE ukraine are presented in vienna, unfolding the differences between the peculiarities of the social interactions in the public sphere in ukraine and austria: from 19th– 22nd april installation FOLLOWING THE TRACE presents artistic mappings from kharkiv and kyiv, showing 4 multimedia works by claudia bosse in cooperation with günther auer.

the works, developed 2017 in kharkiv and kyiv, grasp bodies as a medium for mappings: bodies that transport water from a source through town, leaving traces. bodies that become voices and describe the same location differently in a collage. bodies that poetically subvert the urban space in a performance: the 5-channel-video-installation following the trace of water follows 5 inhabitants from kharkiv that carry drinking water from the source sarzhyn yar until their homes. the camera follows these occasional acquaintances, opening intimate observations based on personal ways through the urban space and constructing a network through town. the audioinstallation when you stand still it is the best position in the city reconstructs 5 locations in kyiv through a multi-voice collage of space-perception between maidan, kontraktova square, moskovska square, teremki and the urban development area obolon. narrations of urban perception that oscillate between political memories, contemporary observations and the possibility of spatial phantasies. applied poetics in urban space gathers audio- and videofragments of a series of 6 choreographic interventions by claudia bosse together with 20 ukrainian participants at 5 locations in kyiv along the metro-line 2, during 6 days in may 2017 and forms a cinematic collage.

the concert ukrainian rhapsody by composer günther auer associatively reconstructs the underground of moskovskaya square in kyiv on 20th april, 8.30pm in a noise-multichannel composition.

in the lecture mental mappings on 19th april, 7.00pm anaystasiya ponomaryova (urban curators kyiv) presents methods of mapping the public space in kyiv. the lecture negotiates possible interventions of architecture – in the context of the specific political constellations in ukraine. how can architecture react on demands in public space and develop a new agenda with the citizens? how is public space controlled in ukraine? which phantasies of collective subversion can be developed? subsequently claudia bosse gives insights in artistic methods of performative actions in public space, realized with the series of choreographic interventions applied poetics in urban space in kyiv. how is space produced physically and collectively and how can it be changed temporarily?

in the talk relating to (political space) – strategies in dealing with urban space in ukraine, 21st april 2018, 6.00pm, nadiya parfan (filmmaker, co-founder 86-festival slavutysch) and oleksandr vynogradov (researcher and communication manager IZOLYATSIA platform for cultural initiatives donezk/kyiv) discuss how ukrainian art and cultural institutions work in the urban surrounding under the given conditions. moderation: dr. tatiana zhurzhenko (institut for human sciences). followed by a presentation of in between spaces linear cities kharkiv 2017, christine hohenbüchler, inge manka.

click here to see photo series of the performative research urban laboratory IDEAL PARADISE ukraine, photo: claudia bosse

click here to see photo series of FOLLOWING THE TRACE – artistic mappings in kharkiv and kyiv.
filmstill FOLLOWING THE TRACE OF WATER, 5-channel-video-installation by claudia bosse.

artistic director: claudia bosse; sound/media: günther auer; in collaboration with: urban curators: nastya ponomaryova, iryna yakovchuk; production manager kiev: nino khodorivsko, oksana potapova; research: oleksandr vynogradov; communication theatercombinat: vicky klug; production manager theatercombinat: margot wehinger

a production by theatercombinat, in collaboration with urban curators, supported by wien kultur, austrian cultural forum kyiv, change of scene / robert bosch stiftung in cooperation with the german centre of the international theatre institute and the austrian federal chancellery. goethe institute supports urban curators for the transcriptions of applied poetics in urban space.

FOLLOWING THE TRACE is a cooperation with the institut für kunst und gestaltung 1/TU wien.

research I:
23th – 30th september 2016

research II:
1st – 7th december 2016

interventions, videomapping und presentation in charkiv and kyiv:
4th – 21st may 2017

"applied poetics in urban space"– a series of choreographic interventions in kyiv:
15th – 20th may, 2 – 7pm
a project by claudia bosse,
in collaboration with urbancurators

FOLLOWING THE TRACE – artistic mappings from kharkiv and kyiv:
20th– 22nd april 2018
TVFA halle
erzherzog-johann-platz 1
1040 vienna
open daily 2–8pm

19th april, 6pm, opening of the installation
7pm lecture mental mappings
with anastasiya ponomariyova ( urban curators kyiv) and claudia bosse.
until 22.00 uhr bar, drinks and discussion

20th april, 8.30pm concert: the ukrainian rhapsody a multichannel sound noise system by günther auer in the installation, bar

21st april, 6pm talk: relating to (political) space – strategies in dealing with urban space in ukraine with nadiya parfan (filmmaker, co-founder 86-festival slavutysch) and oleksandr vynogradov (researcher and communication manager of IZOLYATSIA platform for cultural initiatives donezk/kiew), moderation: dr. tatiana zhurzhenko (institut for human sciences)
+ presentation of in between spaces linear cities kharkiv 2017, christine hohenbüchler, inge manka.

presentation by claudia bosse
24th september 2016, 12pm
platforma, in the framework gogolfest
bilomorska str. 1, art-zavod "platforma", kyiv

presentation by claudia bosse
2nd dezember 2016, 19pm
izolyatsia. platform for cultural initiatives
naberezhno-luhova, 8, 04071 kyiv

"about the political dimension of interventions in public space" – presentation by claudia bosse + panel discussion with hanna bondar (acting director of the department of city construction and architecture of kyiv)
5th may 2017, 6pm
department of urban planning and architecture, university kiev, khreshchatyk street 32, 01601 kyiv

urban laboratory IDEAL PARADISE ukriane is part of the series IDEAL PARADISE, that is the last chapter of the research cycle (katastrophen 11/15) ideal paradise that has started in 2013 dealing with the configuration of the (political) reality and its ideological constructions. (katastrophen 11/15) ideal paradise by claudia bosse and a group of international artists, dancers, performers and theoreticians investigates the structure of catastrophe as a tipping point of society and generates several formats like performances, choreographies, theatre works, installations, interventions, lectures and workshops. sometimes the collection of interviews, some democratic fictions, that has been emerging in collaboration with günther auer since 2011 and consists of personal conversations about democracy, freedom, terrorism, state, history, identity conducted in cities like new york, tunis, cairo, frankfurt, zagreb, tel aviv, brussels and beirut.

PROJECTS IN THE CYCLE (katastrophen 11/15) IDEAL PARADISE:
method body / lecture by claudia bosse in the framework of scores "intact bodies". thoughts meet space in may / june 2013 was an installation in 18 different spaces where the interviews were confronted with media scenarios of spelling reality. here, for the first time, the majority of the archive material became part of this artistic operation called “thoughts meet space”, as a virtual space of three-dimensional thought presented in the old customs canteen in vienna accompanied by 2 performances in relation to the installation the breath of thoughts and death as well as closing act as a coproduction with tanzquartier vienna. the installation thoughts meet space beirut in october was a continuation of that artistic method and presents parts of the archive material combined with photos and objects created and collected in beirut as well as interviews. (in)valid bodies, lecture by claudia bosse in november 2013 in the framework of the symposium "public bodies", FFT dusseldorf and heinrich heine university. showing and discussion in december 2013 / the rehearsals of what about catastrophes? in the framework of the seminary "aesthetic and poetic" - performance theory and -praxis" of the university vienna, monika meister / daniela pillgrab. katastrophen: momente des umschlags in december 2013 was a research workshop by claudia bosse at tanzquartier wien. in a one-week working situation a group of artists and theoreticians met in order to concern themselves with the function and structure of catastrophe in our society, based on their respective artistic, compositional, urban or philosophical practice and based on their methods and materials. with guenther auer, claudia bosse, alain franco, omar nagati, sandra noeth and marcus steinweg. in april 2014 was the world premiere of what about catastrophes? with 4 performances at tanzquartier vienna. in september 2014 in dusseldorf was the world premiere of catastrophic paradise in coproduction with FFT dusseldorf in the framework of the series "DECOLONIZE! performative strategies for a (post)colonial age". in this context took place the symposium politics of paradise and catastrophes. thoughts meet space athens in october was a site-specific multimedia installation at Bhive in athens, turning the neoclassical villa into a talking house, speaking with voices of the transnational archive of thoughts. the installation thoughts meet space cairo presented at hotel viennoise the nomadic archive. for the second time interviews had been conducted in cairo after 2011. the installation was accompanied by a 5 day event called reflection zone that functions as a discursive and performative salon with contributions of artists and theoreticians based in cairo. in march 2015 the performance catastrophic paradise was translated from the version for a complex, multi-part building into a version for the specific conditions of tqw / halle G. in april / may 2015, at the donaufestival in krems the performance and installation a first step to IDEAL PARADISE created a workroom about rituals and political thought. this work was the first sketch for the new production IDEAL PARADISE, the last part in the overall project of (katastrophen 11/15) ideal paradise. the next step in this series took place at ImPulsTanz festival 2015: alongside the topics colonialism, cultural projection, construction of ideology(ies) and ideal communities the installation a second step to IDEAL PARADISE created walk-in narrations in an ensemble of spaces in the weltmuseum vienna. in a third step to IDEAL PARADISE this installation became a score of a choreographed performance. as performative practice urban laboratory IDEAL PARADISE intervened from october until december 2015 in different spaces in vienna and translated the experiences and materials of the former steps of IDEAL PARADISE as methodical intrusions into the city. in IDEAL PARADISE clash the absent spaces of the previous interventions and performative installations were interrelated in the theatre space of tanzquartier vienna's halle G through sound-recordings, choreographic compositions and body memories. the nomadic urban composition IDEAL PARADISE was spread into the city and played as a choreography of cohabitation and utopian togetherness on different places like a fallow site in the 6th viennese district, the hangar of the second hand shop carla mittersteig, the belvedere and the paths in between. in bucharest IDEAL PARADISE shifting space unfolded an installation that became a performance. urban laboratory IDEAL PARADISE ukraine is built on the performative practice in vienna and will examine the until 2017 the public space in lviv and kiev, taking into account the architectural, political and legal situation in the ukraine. thoughts meet space cairo in vienna was a laboratory and a walk-in installation as a continuation of the same-named installation that was taking place in cairo and was presented at tqw in november 2016 as a research and installation with live performance. as the final project of the cycle the last IDEAL PARADISE brought together the several steps and the material of the rampant series IDEAL PARADISE in the former loading station in dusseldorf. invited by the goethe-institute indonesien the last IDEAL PARADISE jakarta was an adaption with new material and an installation specifically for jakarta, which premiered february 2020.