Habitat
Co-production with LaborGras
Multimedia installation / performance
2008 O Espaço do Tempo, Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal
2010/11 Radialsystem V, Berlin, Germany
HABITAT is the design of an accessible, temporary performance/installation and inviting the audience to experience different real and virtual space levels from a self-determined perspective.
Solid sculptural settings, carved in oak, create the overall space of the performance/ installation.
Each individual sculpture has an intimate interior to be discovered by the viewer, which is equipped with a monitor and a loudspeaker.
The space seen in the monitor is a media extension of the sculpture and forms the virtual stage for the dancer and her choreography.
The dancer acts on a clearly defined black square, in the overall space.
The coming together of dance and sculpture is created through using digital technology and software specifically developed for the performance. By the use of video projection, in real time, a connection between the choreography in the real stage and the virtual space in the sculptures is produced. The virtual stages (monitors) are animated during the dance performance. The dancer occupies the virtual spaces of the sculptures singly or as a multiple clone. Each movement is created in the context of the virtual interior of the sculptures. The dancer acts in the consciousness of her "habitat" defined by the sculptural interior spaces. The choreographic interpretation is retained by the sculptures as a digital recording; the dancer settles the spatially separated "habitats" of the plastic installation, without physically removing herself from the dance floor.
For the viewer, an environment is created that is both performance and installation, and calls for the viewer to move out of their secure position of observation and to explore new ways of perception. The audience sees the accessible area as a temporary "living space" within which, through their own movement, can simultaneously experience the real-life and the virtual transmitted “life" in the sculptures. There is no distance between performance area, audience, dancer, acoustics and sculptures. The artistic process becomes transparent during the performance.
Concept: LaborGras & Volker Schnüttgen
Choreography: LaborGras (Renate Graziadei & Arthur Stäldi)
Performance: Renate Graziadei
Sculptures and Virtual Interior Design: Volker Schnüttgen
Composition & Live Music: Constantin Popp
Videoart: Frieder Weiss & Martin Bellardi
Costume: Chantal Margiotta
Assistance Costume: Claudia Janitschek
Sculpture Assistance: Fernando Almeida
Technical Director: Jochen Massar
Production: Inge Zysk
Public Relation: Yven Augustin
HABITAT is a LaborGras & Volker Schnüttgen production and is supported by funds from the Hauptstadtkulturfonds Berlin. Generously supported by Kirchhoff Automotive and Galeria Arthobler. The work in progress 2008 version was created in cooperation with O Espaço do Tempo, Convento da Saudação, Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal.
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