ZAGREB RESIDENCY FESTIVAL NOVOG ... - Unpack the Arts

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perception of speed when in a fast car, as well as the rare neurological disorder akinetopsia where the patient cannot perceive motion, instead seeing the world as a series of frozen pictures, stop frames prior to animation. Interested in the magic of cinema special effects and seeking to blur the boundaries between movie and stage magic, Hakkarainen tried to recreate slow-motion performances from cinema live in a theatre. So we see him driving, trying to stay awake as words are projected on the (wind)screen in front of him. Trees, houses and fields flashing past him, again and again and again, his tired vision tunnelling. Bulbs flare and flash and red cables tangle with his thoughts. A trained visual artist, Kalle Hakkarainen’s intensely repetitive piece is not an easy fit in the circus box. There is very little of the physical in his theatre, and the one trick he does use, an old and classic move, is hampered, as Cie 14:20’s piece before his, by the visibility of the harness that makes it possible, and so any small chance of magic is dispelled. It does not work well as avantgarde theatre either, for he gives no expression, no presence, no character, and no drama. The viewer grasps for something that is not offered, and again they are not in awe purely of the skill involved in his work. The glorious soundscapes by Múm’s Samuli Kosminen cannot save it, and the audience leaves disappointed. Saturday brings a lot more joy, and the festival’s outstanding highlight – the surreal Kafka-esque dream world of L’Autre. Conceived and choreographed by Claudio Stellato in Brussels in collaboration with Martin Firket, it explores the physical language of a body with “no shape or joints, yet a body that is strong and meticulous”. Claudio is a highly driven performer who undertakes intense periods of research to perfect his art, drawing on mime and acrobatics to create his cleverly choreographed contortions: “This piece is the result of a long investigation (begun in 2008) focusing on movement language and the relationship between body and object. What I have been pursuing (and am still researching) is the possibility of giving life, through movement, to my deepest impulses, hidden desires and every other part of my unconscious mind that does not usually manifest itself.” The piece begins, in pitch darkness, with the unnerving sound of scratching. A light comes up to reveal Stellato edging across a furled red carpet with a small cabinet supported on his back, his progress forward a struggle. As the show progresses, Stellato turns feline, moving from cabinet to wardrobe, as the red carpet breathes, furniture levitates and doors open and close by themselves. In the end, rather than anthropomorphising the inanimate, all is animated, and Stellato is objectified, becoming one with his surroundings. As he explores his landscape, the wooden containers tilt and fall, and he falls and rises with them with a deft humour that draws us into the magic of his world, and the genius of his simplistic invention. Like Chaplin in Le Cirque Invisible, Stellato makes the everyday into the extraordinary, turning the mundane into magic with his movements. “Through this performance I put on stage the possibility that a hidden part of myself takes a human form, free from constrictions, and comes to disrupt the conscious and rational part of me, along with its sense of reality. I call this inner part my ‘Autre’. On stage, I incarnate both: ‘me’ and my Autre (‘other’). They co-exist together in one body that is torn between two different ways of being: the conscious ‘me’ and the subconscious, imaginary ‘me’. L’Autre lives in a world made of living objects (furniture and other warped/ reinvented objects) that come to life one after the other. He manipulates them, discovers them.” Watching the piece, it feels like a solo show, but at the end it is revealed to be a duet. In the shadows lurks someone ‘invisible’ (Martin Firket) who makes the visible illusion possible. Stellato explains: “He is controlling everything the eye can see. A technician, a master of ceremony, a wizard, a puppeteer, or perhaps simply the person that makes the world of L’Autre possible and that defines it. With this piece, I am not trying to convey a clear message or to tell a tightly knit story. I’m looking to stimulate the senses of the audience and to provoke instinctive reactions, as in a dream…” SUSIE WILD 60
Le Cirque Invisible “We’re all going to die. All of us. What a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities. We are eaten up by nothing.” C H A R L E S B U K O W S K I X E N I A H E L M S Roll up, roll up, the circus is coming! What is typical of a circus? Roll up! Dozens of colourful wagons full of daring artists, wild animals, shining sparkling costumes, lights, tents, benches, ropes, bars and chains roam from place to place, arriving at marshy meadows or dusty fields to bring audiences a few days of entertainment, amazement and magic. For what seems like hundreds of years, travelling circus folk have visited locals in their villages and towns, settling down for a short period of time and bringing with them everything they need to live and work. The Festival novog cirkusa in Zagreb turns this idea on its head for one of its performances. It is the audience that travels to the circus. Dozens of festival-goers meet at the main train station and, after a lengthy wait, board a coach with tinted windows. Our ID cards are scrutinised and our tickets are checked off from a list. People create social seating arrangements on the bus and finally we head off. The festival has existed since 2005, but it cannot draw on existing local circus structures or experiences nor on an audience with circusspecific knowledge, habits or preferences. As those travelling on the bus explain, unlike many other socialist countries, the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia did not have a national circus or any permanent circus buildings like those which can still be found today in cities such as Riga or Moscow. According to them the Italian Le Cirque Invisible “We’re all going to die. All of us. What a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities. We are eaten up by nothing.” C H A R L E S B U K O W S K I X E N I A H E L M S Der Zirkus kommt, der Zirkus kommt! Was ist typisch für den Zirkus? Er kommt! Dutzende bunte Wagen voll waghalsiger Artisten, wilder Tiere, glitzernder Kostüme, Lampen, Zelten, Bänke, Seile, Gitter und Gatter ziehen von Ort zu Ort, kommen zum Publikum auf sumpfige Wiesen und staubige Plätze, um für einige Tage Zauber, Staunen und Freude zu bringen. Seit gefühlten hunderten von Jahren besuchen Fahrende die Sesshaften in ihren Dörfern und Städten und bringen alles mit sich, was sie für Arbeit und Alltag brauchen, um sich für kurze Zeit niederzulassen. Das Festival novog cirkusa 1 in Zagreb dreht dieses Prinzip für eine Vorstellung um. Das Publikum reist zum Zirkus. Mehrere dutzend Festivalbesucherinnen treffen sich am Hauptbahnhof und steigen nach längerem Herumstehen in einen bereitstehenden Reisebus mit verdunkelten Scheiben. Unsere Identitäts papiere werden kontrolliert, die Eintrittskarten werden mit Listen verglichen, Sitzgemeinschaften bilden sich – und endlich geht es los. Das Festival existiert seit 2005 und kann weder auf bereits vorhandene örtliche Strukturen und Erfahrungen zurückgreifen, noch auf zirkusspezifische Kenntnisse, Sehgewohnheiten und Vorlieben des Publikums. Wie die Mitreisenden erzählen, gab es in der ehemaligen Republik Jugoslawien, im Gegensatz zu vielen sozialis- 1 Http://www.cirkus.hr/ CHARLES BUKOWSKI 61
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European residency programme for cu
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In Search of the Other Stellato: In
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other company in residency had lock
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tired of the dance world, which he
Page 9 and 10: that I’ve understood the process.
Page 11 and 12: The ‘New Circus’ in Search of S
Page 13 and 14: However, going back to the focus of
Page 15 and 16: ehind a translucent screen, the pie
Page 17 and 18: a kind of shell, sometimes a featur
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Page 21 and 22: a balance between cultures, and the
Page 23 and 24: The subject matter of Gravitation i
Page 25 and 26: performances based on amazement and
Page 27 and 28: well yourself. In rehearsals, howev
Page 29 and 30: still so small that there are not v
Page 31 and 32: In Between Child’s Play, Visual A
Page 33 and 34: comforter of big and small sorrows.
Page 35 and 36: extreme reactions, including the re
Page 37 and 38: The show offstage M I Q U E L V A L
Page 39 and 40: his hand! Certainly, in his show (L
Page 41 and 42: victims is very much part of the pi
Page 43 and 44: fact, during Raphaël Navarro’s i
Page 45 and 46: Let us recall the 1970s, that stran
Page 47 and 48: same. Each festival reflects its to
Page 49 and 50: Slovenian auditorium, proclaims the
Page 51 and 52: From Le Cirque Invisible to today a
Page 53 and 54: cooperate with the artists in a fri
Page 55 and 56: Claudio: “I feel closest to the c
Page 57 and 58: classic circuses for their opinion
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Page 63 and 64: ises and the magic begins. A quirky
Page 65 and 66: countries exist, borders have shift
Page 67 and 68: To me working on a new show is like
Page 69: This project has been funded with s
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ZAGREB RESIDENCY FESTIVAL NOVOG ... - Unpack the Arts

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