claudia bosse / theatercombinat

10th - 13th april 2014 - premiere what about catastrophes? claudia bosse / theatercombinat, tanzquartier vienna, halle G, museumsquartier vienna (a).
in english and german.

dossier

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

further projects of the cycle:
- catastrophic paradise

- 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

what about catastrophes? drives with sensual performative variations on catastrophe theatre at its borders: in a choreography of politically rutted landscapes, bodies which find themselves in a downfall, ritual movements, fragments of words and soundscapes emerges a multi-narrative space of layered voices.

in a choreography with and by language an ensemble of five dancers and performers explore the grammar of catastrophe. starting from threatened bodies, the power of images and imagination of society concerning apocalypse, claudia bosse investigates the potential of structures of collapse: narratives about democracy, terrorism, freedom, revolution and civil war face bodies within extreme situations. bodies which tremble in convulsion and try to unsettle the accelerating machine of capital, media and catastrophe at the same time.

what about catastrophes? confronts audience and performers with a collapse of an order and takes it as the initial point of movement: five bodies search for positioning in word- and soundscapes which are falling apart, for translations for the inexpressible, non-describable dimension of catastrophe between current revolutionary, catastrophic, militant events. a radical immersion into moments of exhaustion, destabilization and disorder, a piece about community, possibilities of action and bodies on shaky ground. the piece tautens the ruinous with the soon-to-be of our society, the catastrophic with the imaginary, the possible with the im-possible, and examines in various configurations catastrophe as an artistic method which stays in motion even in the moment of collapse.

what about catastrophes? is part of the overall project (katastrophen 11/15) ideal paradise by claudia bosse and a group of international artists, dancers, performers, theoreticians and investigates the structure of the catastrophe as a tipping point of society until 2015. for that claudia bosse accesses her collection of interviews which has been continuously developed in cooperation with guenther auer since 2011. it emerged out of personal conversations about democracy, freedom, terrorism, state, history, identity in cities like new york, cairo, tunis, frankfurt, zagreb, tel aviv, brussels and beirut.

choreography / space + installation / concept: claudia bosse, sound / video: guenther auer, with/ by: nathalie rozanes, alexandra sommerfeld, florian troebinger, kostas tsioukas, elizabeth ward, technical director / collaboration space: marco toelzer, dramaturgy: fanti baum, clothes: lila john, communication: anna etteldorf, internship: andreea zelinka, assistant final rehearsals: stella reinhold, press: TQW and sky unlimited, training: ziya azazi, caroline decker, production management: margot wehinger

a production by theatercombinat, in coproduction with tanzquartier vienna, supported by wien kultur

what about catastrophes? 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), austrian and swiss embassy in athens

premiere what about catastrophes?
10th april 2014, 8.30pm
further showings 11th/12th/13th april 2014, 8.30pm
artist's discussion with claudia bosse and kai van eikels following the performance on april 11th

location
halle G / museumsquartier vienna
museumsplatz 1
1070 vienna

video full version: guenther auer

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.