Metamotion for 270degrees

“Metamotion for 270degrees” loosely departs from the biblical story of Salome. The work approaches the young, dancing female body to touch upon myths around femininity in western art history, in conjunction with christianity and the implemented cancellation of that character. Hovering in and out of those images, the performer enters into dialogue with different objects, times, references and narratives and switches roles, being its facilitator, user, friend, sparring partner. At the same time being its subject, the performer is a labourer continuously constructing architectures of imaginations, made out of the physical and metaphysical aspects in the space. The work tries to understand the necessity of keeping a myth alive while at the same time trying to decompose it, such as the relevance of doing so in front of an audience gaze. During a journey of investigating those matters, the performer is entering realms of sensorial,material, emotional, animalistic, architectural and narrative conjunctions while experiencing its own twisted projections, as well.

The work features references of movement artist and actor Terry Notary ( “planet of the apes” and “the square”) such as performance artist Oleg Kulik, sounds by various artists from the archive freesound.org (listed below), Michelangelo, Rodin, the anamorphic skull in the painting “the ambassadors” by Hans Holbein the younger, such as the entrance sound of “the gate” by Björk, whom she is referring to in an interview as following: 

“Also, I used a vinyl album of Venezuelan music I had, [Heku- ra–Yanomamo Shamanism From Southern Venezuela], that was recorded in the ’70s—Venezuelan birds. The birds there sound completely different. They sound like R2-D2, or techno. There’s one beautiful sound that ended up in the beginning of ‘The Gate’, a recording of these birds that Venezuelans believe are the ghosts of fetuses. If they have stillborns or young children that die, they think they go into the jungle and make these sounds.” (Read more at http://www.nme.com/news/music/bjork-recorded-birds- sounded-like-r2-d2-new album-2160172#8a0Gf0mflvwzBesO.99) 

Credits: 

Choreography and performance: Toni Steffens
Set design: Toni Steffens, Frits van Diehl
Costume: Avoidstreet
Lights and technic: Martin Kaffarnik, Vincent Romijn
Sound edit: Toni Steffens 

Featured artists in order of appearance:
Björk (The gate), Jovica aka Jovica Storer (freesound.org) Akumasanti ( Little Dragon Pretty Girl xxx) Leosalom, Pan14, botha9johann, arseniiv, copyc4t, RebekahDay (freesound.org) 

Production: Stephanie Luehn, Charlot van der Meer, SNDO Amsterdam

Advice: Mehraneh Atashi, Katerina Bakatsaki 

Warm thanks to : Michael Scerbo, Ana Vujanociv, Andrea Zavala, Sigrid Stigsdatter, Michele Rizzo, Renee Copraij, Rodrigo Sobarzo, Stefa Govaart 

Reviews:

Theaterkrant 2018: https://www.theaterkrant.nl/nieuws/theatrale-performances-op-flam-2018/

Nellie de Boer, March 2018, Amsterdam



Former Forms
Former forms appear as materialised memories or “half-forgotten” materials in the realm of performing arts or life arts. Being both elements of former performances and elements that have been appeared and performed before, former forms mostly work as reminder of pasts, that one is unable to memorise or as defaults and disturbances of functions that belong to their former life, and which they now do not want to associate with anymore. Becoming dysfunctional in respect of their past, former forms are desperately asking the viewer and collaborator to revisit their agency while not forgetting their former identity. Former forms can be found within set design, sounds, physical practices and words. They operate in relation to their significance: while being mostly still identified as a sign x they claim to not be able to any longer represent or pursue specific ideological or functional activity and ask for state of retirement or repurpose. Former forms are mostly philosophically ahead of their users, entering into their living context to open up discourse and  perspective on what they are or became in the meantime. Former forms in that respect detect potential futures while remembering their own pasts. These futures though can only be generated by collective intervention and radical reconsideration of what those forms are able to be. Former forms attract humans in the re-pre-mirror state, who are again not able to sharply identify the borders of subjects and/or subobjects. Former forms are therefore intersubjective subobjects dealing with the chronics of significance of non-humans, that have been utilised by humans in order to write fiction, to not say history. Their main function can be seen in the stubborn insistence of motivating the human to re-evaluate this function and utilisation and hopefully rewrite, actualise and alternate their function.Former forms refer to holographic processes that transform information into form that expresses frequency. Former forms long for an activation that alters their frequency and detects their hidden information expressing their desire of being and not their function of being.

Weaving Passages for the momentous

An Attendee

Orange Rest/Sacrifice

Spinner

Metamotion for 270degrees

Hope, Test

Night Flying Project

Movement

delineations

Unfamiliarities

DATES/ NEWS

2-3/09/2023: "Line,lo0sing line", Research Presentation at Oldenaller, commissioned by Fransien van der Putt, working with the archive of painter Claartje Berger
3-5/07/2023: Research residency at Oldenaller, commissioned by Fransien van der Putt, working with the archive of painter Claartje Berger
23/06/2023: "THE FATE CAST / IN THE SEARCH / OF FOUR PETALS", during " Even in the dark I know I am sleeping with myself" at Perdu Amsterdam, Collaboration with Mercedes Azpilicueta
24/05/2023: "SPRING WOUNDS" as part of the warp, a shared evening at KUNSTKAPEL, AMSTERDAM
14/04/2023: "ORANGE REST/ SACRIFICE", ATELIERS PACT ZOLLVEREIN, ESSEN
30/03/2023: "WEAVING PASSAGES FOR THE MOMENTOUS", Extra Intra Reader #2 :A SLIGHT BREATH, editors HARRIET FOYSTER, ROSIE HAWARD, NELL SCHWAN, editorial board for  intercurricular Programmes, GERRIT RIETVELD ACADEMY, SAN SERIFFE, AMSTERDAM 2023
10/11/2022:  "HOPE,TEST- A STRATEGY OF PERFORMATIVE MEMORIES", PUBLISHER: 4BID GALLERY AMSTERDAM
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2022: "SPINAL CATASTROPHE" RESEARCH PROJECT, SUPPORTED BY NEUSTART KULTUR, #TAKE HEART, PACT ZOLLVEREIN, BERLIN/AMSTERDAM, RESEARCH
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2022: DRAMATURGY FOR ELVAN TEKIN, TANZFABRIK BERLIN
08/07/2022: "THE FATE CAST / IN THE SEARCH / OF FOUR PETALS", DURING "CHANGE FEELING" , COLLABORATION WITH MERCEDES AZPILICUETA, VANABBE MUSEUM EINDHOVEN  
02+03/07/2022: "ON J0YFUL MILITANCY", PERFORMING FOR MERCEDES AZPILICUETA, ROZENSTRAAT, AMSTERDAM
19/05/2022: "SPINNER" PREMIER AT FLAM FESTIVAL AMSTERDAM
08/05/2022: "AN ATTENDEE" MANDALA FESTIVAL, WROCLAV
14/03-04/04: RESIDENCY AT WORKSPACE BRUSSELS