Creation for Buehnen  Bern

Premiere  6 May 2023-Bern (SUISSE)

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We live in a present that seems to be obsessed with image inflation. Digitalisation and

mediatisation have driven development, with smartphone in hand, more people generate images than ever before.

ever. What has remained unchanged is the important role that visual culture plays in understanding oneself

and the world. The visibility, the visual presentation of a company is always a measure of its effectiveness. Its

thought patterns are expressed in images, its intellectual ideals and goals are revealed. In every

age, images contribute to the formation of a society's identity.

Representation of power

In 1623, the then 24-year-old painter Diego Velázquez was appointed to the Spanish royal court to paint portraits of the royal family, especially the

portraits of the royal family, especially King Philip IV and the court. The paintings served to show the government

government and to manifest the position of power. The paintings played a central role as a means of

representation.

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Like glowing glass, in the first part of the evening the choreographic duo Kor'sia directs their gaze to the visual world of our present. Their space resembles a film and photography studio. With their moving tableaux, they cast a spotlight on the production of images without mass. They choreograph scenes with effectively grouped actors, reminiscent of models on the catwalk, athletes in front of the camera, celebrities in the spotlight. And at the same time, these sometimes more and sometimes less visible arrangements are inspired by Velázquez's paintings: Apollo in the Forge, Pope Innocent X, Venus before the Mirror, Queen Isabella of Spain and Las Meninas. Kor'sia takes this type of tableau to the extreme. Her piece seems to tell us: we live in a present that seems not only obsessed with, but also overwhelmed by, inflated images. 

In the second part of the choreography, the world of images takes on a life of its own and slips from the concrete to the abstract, from the objectively tangible to the sensory imaginary. 

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Outside the photographic studio, his space opens up to the indeterminate. There is no longer a camera in front of the motifs, only us, the viewers. 

Towards the end of his creative period, Velázquez worked less with sharp outlines and more with individual brushstrokes that only unfolded their effect from a certain distance. A painting technique perfected by the Impressionists in the 19th century. And just as painting over the centuries has detached itself from the detailed and realistic pictorial function of representation, Kor'sia's moving images seem to detach themselves from reality and slip into the oneiric in the course of the evening. As if we were, like the impressionist painters, plein air (in the open air) and directly sur le motif (in front of the motif).

 

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ARTISTIC TEAM:

IDEA AND DIRECTION: Mattia Russo and Antonio de Rosa

CHOREOGRAPHY: Mattia Russo and Antonio de Rosa in collaboration with the interpreters

INTERPRETERS:  Buehnen Bern dancers

DRAMATURGY: Bettina Fischer

SCENERY:  Till Kuhnert in collaboration with  KOR'SIA

COSTUME DESIGN:  Catherine Voeffray with  KOR'SIA

LIGHT DESIGN: Hanspeter Liechti

 

 

 

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