Richard Siegal and The Bakery: HOMO LUDENS (2008–2009)
Fri, February 13 – Sun, February 15, 2009
- Location
- Media Theater
The presentation of »HOMO LUDENS« at ZKM is the European premiere of the latest production by internationally renowned dancer and choreographer Richard Siegal. In his work, Siegal, previously a dancer with the Forsythe Company, focuses on the interdisciplinary exploration of new forms of contemporary dance. In this context, he founded The Bakery, an association of artists from various disciplines from music to media art, in 2002.
The production »HOMO LUDENS,« created in collaboration with ZKM, demonstrates this innovative approach in an exceptional way. The starting point of the multimedia dance performance is a choreographic system specially developed by Siegal, the »If/Then« methodology. This system is based on rules and structural models known from computer sciences. The nuclei for choreographies are the so-called »games«, units of specific actions and rules. The games are interconnected is such a way that, at predefined intersections, the performers can switch into another such set of rules and actions. To develop, visualize and notate these paths of decision-making processes, flow charts are employed.
From this formal logical system of notation, a fascinating, playful, and organic dialogue of the actors—from dance through to music—develops on stage.
This innovative method, which has given new impulses to contemporary dance, has been an implicit base of the group's previous works. However, in »HOMO LUDENS,« it is for the first time directly integrated into the performance by means of new media and thus made visible for the viewers.
| Credits | |
| Choreography, dance, video design: | Richard Siegal [The Bakery Paris-Berlin] |
| Dance: | Kenneth Flak |
| Gesture recognition programming: | Jean-Philippe Lambert |
| Composition, live electronics: | Aki Ito |
| Cello: | Eric-Maria Couturier [Ensemble Intercontemporain] |
| Lighting design: | Gilles Genter, Manuel Weber |
| Gesture recognition and motion capture technology: | IRCAM [l'Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique], Paris |
| Producer: | Dieta Sixt [The Bakery Berlin] |
| Production: | The Bakery and ZKM | Karlsruhe, Institute for Visual Media; Co-production partner: Muffatwerk, Munich |
| With the support of: the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Paris; Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM], Japan; Goethe-Institut Osaka; Temps d’Images: Tanzhaus NRW, la Ferme du Buisson; Champagne de Valromey; le CENTQUATRE, Paris. | |
Program
13.02.09, 20:00
14.02.09, 20:00
15.02.09, 18:00