theatercombinat | 24th/26th/27th september 2014 - premiere, in the framework of the series "DECOLONIZE! performative strategies for a (post)colonial age", FFT dusseldorf (d) | 20th/21st march 2015 - austrian premiere, tanzquartier vienna (a) | 19th/22nd/23rd/24th/25th september 2015 - in the framework of "wunder der prärie", zeitraumexit mannheim (d). catastrophic paradise claudia bosse / theatercombinat
in english and german.

sprache/language: deutsch, english

dossier (vienna)
press review

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

further projects of the cycle:
- what about catastrophes?

- a first step to IDEAL PARADISE
- a second step to IDEAL PARADISE
- IDEAL PARADISE clash
- IDEAL PARADISE
- the last IDEAL PARADISE

used material from the collection: some democratic fictions

catastrophic paradise is a composition of variations about the paradise, about the deluge as a violent reset of society, about abandoned zones and about cannibalism, as a condition in which the human being eats itself - a performative landscape by claudia bosse out of choreographic actions and constellations, text bodies and installative objects.

texts from montaigne, documents of general butt naked, estamira and extracts of the genesis will be embodied. chorical-monological speech-acts display the construction of cultural history and can be retraced in their structure till the old testament: paradise as a guarded enclosure.

an approach on the (post)colonial condition of the world, 5 zones with different approaches. rituals, voices, choreographies in one space shared with the audience meet sound-compositions by guenther auer and an international company of dancers and performers. with statements about revolution, civil war and democracy from interviews, which have been conducted by claudia bosse in new york, cairo, beirut, tel aviv, tunis etc. since 2011.

the performance space of the world premiere was the botschaft at worringer platz in dusseldorf, a former theatre and cinema. auditorium, foyer and stage were used as a whole space and transferred with installative elements into a performative architecture. for the autrian premiere in vienna the work is being translated from the version for a complex, multi-part building into a version for the specific conditions of TQW / halle G. in the framework of the festival "wunder der prärie", a new version of catastrophic paradise will be presented, especially developed for the former video store at meerfelderstraße in mannheim. between the first performance on 19th september 2015 and the second one, 25th september, the space of the performance will be opened for visitors as an installation. furthermore, thoughts of citizens of mannheim about concepts of democracy, ways of life, ideas of freedom and political alternatives will be conducted on site. these thoughts will become a part of the transnational collection of interviews some democratic fictions.

between 21st and 24th september claudia bosse and her team work on the performance at different (semi) public places. the performance will be segmented into four fragments which will be shown on four days at the sepcifically chosen places. the traces of the URBAN TRY OUTS will inform the second show on 25th septmeber.

catastrophic paradise is the second performance of the overal project (katastrophen 11/15) ideal paradise by claudia bosse after what about catastrophes?, which premiered in april this year in tanzquartier vienna. untill the end of 2015 this project is going to investigate the structure of catastrophe and will generate various artistic formats: performances, choreographies, installations, interventions, lectures, workshops and conferences.

photo: claudia bosse, botschaft at worringer square dusseldorf, click to view photo series

photo: eva würdinger, tanzquartier vienna, click to view photo series

concept / choreography / installation: claudia bosse, sound / video editing: guenther auer, by / with: nathalie rozanes, alexandra sommerfeld, florian troebinger, elizabeth ward, marco toelzer, special guest: ilse urbanek, dramaturgy: kathrin tiedemann, technical direction: marco toelzer, clothing: lila john, ronja stahl, assistant: constantin schädle, critical witness: sigrid gareis, artistic management: silke bake,production management: stella reinhold (2014), anna etteldorf and margot wehinger (2015)  

a production by theatercombinat and FFT dusseldorf. supported by kunststiftung NRW within the framework of the series "DECOLONIZE! performative strategies for a (post)colonial age" and NPN national performance network, co-production fund for dance financed by the federal government commissioner for culture and the media (BKM) on the basis of a decision made by the german bundestag and by wien kultur.

catastrophic paradise is part of the overall project (katastrophen 11/15) ideal paradise, project partners are tanzquartier vienna, FFT dusseldorf, supported by wien kultur, supported by kunststiftung NRW and NPN national performance network in the framework of the series "DECOLONIZE! performative strategies for a (post)colonial age", ashkal alwan, CLUSTER and szenenwechsel (robert bosch foundation).

NEXT STEP: catastrophic paradise
in the framework of the festival "wunder der prärie", zeitraumexit mannheim
PERFORMANCE VERSION I: 19th september 2015, 8pm
INSTALLATION: 22nd/23rd/24th september 2015, 5pm-8pm
PERFORMANCE VERSION II: 25th september 2015, 8pm
former video store, meerfeldstraße 55, mannheim

URBAN TRY OUTS: the piece as fragment 21st/22nd/23rd/24th september in different places in mannheim

TABLE TALK on the topic "paradise" with claudia bosse and team, moderated by bernd mand, 24th september, . 6pm

austrian premiere
20th/21st march 2015,
halle G, tanzquartier vienna

world premiere
24th/26th/27th september 2014,
botschaft at worringer square, dusseldorf

symposium on 27th september 2014 at FFT dusseldorf
politics of paradise and catastrophes
about the construction of time, acts and narratives
with federica bueti (it/d), sotiris bahtsetzis (gr) and reinhold görling (d)

theatercombinat, FFT dusseldorf in cooperation with heinrich-heine university dusseldorf (institute of cultural and media studies)

SO FAR:
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 discoursive and performative salon with contributions of artists and theoreticians based in cairo. in march 2015 the performance catastrophic paradise is being 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, which will premiere in autumn and will be the last part in the overall project of (katastrophen 11/15) ideal paradise.

(katastrophen 11/15) ideal paradise is the fourth part of the series of "political hybrids" (performances developed since 2010 in vienna, dusseldorf, new york, tunis and zagreb), which will generate various artistic formats - performances, choreographies and theatre works as well as installations, interventions, lectures, workshops and an academy / conference until the end of 2015.