Newsletter published on 12 January – see full version here.
Happy New Year from Vesterbro!
The newsletter contains:
- Invitation to reception for “Chinese Drama”
- News from the main experiment “The sound of the audience” (information meeting)
- Since last
- Platform
- Christmas party
- Internship
- Membership trials in the coming month
- Theothernessproject
- VISUAL WILDNESS
- Residencies – news
- “Lampedusa”: HUSETS Teater offers cheap tickets to members
- Theatre Tugt
- Special for members
- Training hours
- Membership
Publication reception for “Chinese Drama”
On Tuesday 28 February 2017 at 16.00 – 17.00, Forsøgsstationen has the great pleasure to invite you to a reception in connection with the publication of the anthology ‘Chinese Drama’, edited by Gritt Uldall-Jessen. The release is based on the festival “Reading Festival of Chinese Drama”, which Jimbut Jun Feng and Gritt Uldall-Jessen organised in collaboration with the Beijing Fringe Festival and the Experimental Station. It took place on 11. and 12 June 2014 at Forsøgsstationen and was part of Det Frie Felts festival, which was again part of the CPH Stage 2014 programme. “Reading Festival for Chinese Drama” was supported by the Danish Arts Council’s Project Support Committee for Performing Arts. Re-read/re-listen to reviews of the reading festival here.
The texts are translated by Jimbut Jun Feng, Sidse Laugesen and Gritt Uldall-Jessen. Øyvind Kirchhoff from the Experimental Station has taken all the photos in the book. Jette Lund has helped with proofreading. Gritt Uldall-Jessen is the editor of the publication. The publication of “Chinese Drama” is supported by the S. C. Van Foundation. It is published by Drama.
Read more about the anthology here.
News from the main experiment “The sound of the audience”
Last Saturday, the performing artists and local citizens from all walks of life came together for the first time for the choir project. We had called an information meeting for potential choir participants. There was a short introduction to the project itself and the background to it, while we had a cup of coffee – and then it was off to work! We got to try out the first movement of the work, where composer Peter Bruun went through the structure and parts of the work so we could get an idea of what this quirky work consists of, and where choirmaster Erik Jakobsson got to conduct his first bars with the choir. It will be exciting to see what creative moves the choir, composer and choirmaster come up with – there was certainly plenty of energy, questions and ideas from the future choir-ists – so it bodes well. There is still room for more so write if you would like to join. The exams will not start until the end of February. Write to Øyvind Kirchhoff for more information or to register.
Here are links to posters that can be downloaded and shared out in the real world if you know anyone who might be interested. No previous singing or stage experience is required. Just want to be part of a fun artistic and social project…
The project is part of a larger European artistic and social project in 20 European cities entitled “Caravan Next. Feed the Future. Art Moving Cities” with Odin theatre from Holstebro as initiator and overall director. It’s about all of us creating encounters between very different groups of people living in the local area through artistic activities and these activities giving us a sense of community, cohesion and identity.
The rehearsal will start in February 2017 and the concert will take place on 1-4 June 2017 during CPH STAGE.
We are still looking for interns and volunteers
We would like to gather good forces to get this project off to a good start and would like to find a skilled intern, and also volunteers to participate in lifting various tasks related to the project. If you know someone or would be interested in being part of the team in some way, please contact Øyvind Kirchhoff and find out more. See also the announcement on proscenium.dk.
Since last
Platform
On Friday 9 December, the Experimental Station held its bi-annual Platform where the latest experiments share their process and findings. The next platform will be on Friday 16 June 2017 from 17-21.
The following experiments shared their work:
Julie Schmidt Andreasen V Figurines 3 – What do women share and in what ways can we empower and understand ourselves and each other? What exercises in empathy are there through breathing, contact, sound and movement? Third part of study started in 2015.
Rikke Jeppesen Rod Embodied immediacy – exploring different approaches to poetry/text and improvisation-based dance/performance and represents a beginning for establishing working communities between continents via ‘low tech’ formats.
Ditte Laumann/ VILD Kammerat and Bo Larsen /Teater Abstrax Sound Images – an investigation of sound narrative forms on stage based on Jón Kalman Stefansson’s novel universe.
Anette Asp / Wunderverk Cigar bums nose – an experimental project working with the musical paper theatre. The work is based on an adaptation of the Dadaist piece par excellence Le Cœur à gaz / The Heart of Gas,
Peter Kunz and Sofie Alhøj/Den danske scenekunstskole, Odense. Manual for the Actor – development of a manual for actors focusing on new aspects of acting technique in terms of definitions and applications of the concept of impression.
Øyvind Kirchhoff, Rolf Søborg Hansen, Svend E. Kristensen et al. /The Aesthetics of Death – exploring the relationship between the biological and the artificial body, between the representation of the dead and the representation of the living, 2nd part of the work with “The Puppet Master”. Main experiment at the Experimental Station 2016/2017
In addition, two trials from this semester could not participate – they will be included in the next Platform on Friday 16 June 2017.
Kristian Husted
The Race to Zero – a performing arts experiment about the financial markets, and more specifically about the new rulers of the world economy: computer algorithms. Third and last part of the experiment.
Vera Mäder/Hello Earth
Dreaming is something we do while we sleep – research towards the creation of a participatory artwork: the night-visioning a post capitalist society while we sleep. Third part of experiment at the Experimental Station.
Christmas party 2016 – singing together
We would like to share the cultural-political-critical common song that Lotte Faarup wrote for the Christmas party 2016. Although it is already last year, it is still relevant.
It can be downloaded from here.
Internship
In December, we had the pleasure of Jakob Dahn’s labour – when he was on a month’s corporate internship at the choir project. We thank him for his help with PR and recruitment for the choir, and would like to reciprocate by passing on his contact information should you know anyone who needs someone like him. Jakob is a composer, singer and musician who has worked in PR and press relations for various cultural events, and specifically seeks to collaborate with theatres.
News about membership trials
It is always possible to read about ongoing or previous trials on the website, where you can also download trial reports and read the trial intention reports – the trial team’s presentation of the trial itself. Members can apply for time and sparring on trials – see how here. It’s not always possible to get views in the newsletter, so keep an eye on our facebook page and the website if you are particularly interested in experiencing the artistic research processes up close…
This month’s example of experiments that have evolved:
We would like to draw attention to how the Experimental Station’s member experiments both generate knowledge and can be part of the artistic preparation for actual productions. This month we have chosen to highlight member and newest ‘house company’, Livingstone’s Cabinet, who are currently in rehearsals for their new show Random, based on their trial R. P. G. – Random Performance Game in November-December 2015, where they asked themselves the question “Can you develop a hands-on board game/card game that can be used as a structuring and inspirational tool in a performing arts creation process?”. Random premieres in Odense at Momentum on March 22, 2017 and plays in Copenhagen during CPH Stage 2017.
Upcoming Membership Trials
Birth/Breath
BIRTH/BREATH is a performative experiment in which breathing as a conscious reflex will provide the basis for exploring the potential of a community on stage. A sensory space where performance, sound, smoke and light become the object of investigation on the theme of breathing, as a ubiquitous condition of life. Read more about the trial here. The project leader is Rita Sebestyen and the group behind is Othernessproject.
Visual Wildness
Visual Wildness is a study of style shifts and live projections of objects on stage. The experiment is a collaboration between scenographer/video artist Sissel Romme Christensen and idea maker/performer Tea Rønne. They want to develop a stylistic cacophony for the scenic expression in a possible future children’s performance Slut Starut. The style of the performance will be a mix of object theatre, interactive video installation and comic performance. Read more about the trial here.
Residencies
Lampedusa
Now the Lampedusa crew has swapped the Camera room at the Experimental Station for the Husets Teater stage! The show plays on. 12 – 26 January 2017. Director: Andreas Dawe, Actors: Rosa Sand Michelsen and Jesper Hyldegaard. For more information click here. Due to the collaboration on this production, our members have received special discount on tickets.
When around 360 refugees (the exact number is unknown) drowned in the Mediterranean on 3 October 2013, it became English playwright Anders Lustgarten’s impetus for writing the theatre show “Lampedusa”. The play consists of two monologues that interweave and give voice to two Europeans whose lives are affected by the encounter with the foreign. Through them, “Lampedusa” examines us here in the West. Who are we in our encounters with ourselves and with strangers? And who will we be? What kind of Europe do we want to be when people in need knock on our door?
TEATER TUGT – News on Betty
The people behind last year’s success ASYL 34 are on the warpath again with a new groundbreaking theatre concept. We think it’s a super exciting initiative and have given TEATER TUGT permission to work here at Forsøgsstationen on selected Sundays prior to their events.
“The News at the Betty” is “a new theatrical format that breaks the boundaries of news reporting and challenges the conventional notion of the theatrical medium. Twice a month, Teater Tugt invites you into the foyer of the Betty Nansen Theatre for an evening of breaking news, presented by established and emerging artists across aesthetic genres – in a way you’ve certainly never seen before. The evening features 2 works of 20 min. each, both created in only 48 hours and dealing with a maximum 14 days old news, chosen by the artist, from a predetermined news medium” (excerpt from the Teater TUGT website).
Workshop with Nadine George
Workshop with internationally renowned voice teacher Nadine George.
The workshop will take place on Monday. 3. – Saturday d. 8 April 2017 at the Experimental Station and is aimed at all performing artists, regardless of previous experience with this work.
A Masterclass will be held on the last day of the workshop to give a smaller audience an insight into the work. Nadine George will work with the workshop participants, showing how she works with text and voice. The pictures on the right are from last year’s workshop, where participants tried their hand at Shakespeare monologues. This year it will be Ibsen or Chekhov.
NB: The course is fully booked – but there is still the possibility to join the waiting list in case someone drops out. Write to Rikke at rikke@forsoegsstationen.dk for a place on the waiting list. The cost of the workshop is DKK 3,500 and there is only room for 12 people.
Special for members:
Training at the Experimental Station
The weekly trainings are free for members and the schedule looks like this:
Monday 8-11: MHS training
Wednesday 9-11: Voice training*
Thursday 9-10:30: Hatha yoga
Friday 9-10:30: Mask work
*) Registration required by 21:00 the evening before by SMS to 20150949.
In addition, Rikke Liljenberg offers ShakespeareSundayLab on selected Sundays 10:30-13:00. Next time is February 5, 2017. Register at least the day before by email rikkeliljenberg@gmail.com / 31 46 40 10. Read more here. This training is also free for members, but is also open to non-members for a participation fee of 100 DKK per session.
Renewal of membership
It is still possible to become a member for the rest of the 16/17 season. And for members living outside Copenhagen, it costs only 350 DKK for a whole season.
For detailed information on registration and prices follow this link.
Become a member of Forsøgsstationen or renew your membership for the coming season by filling in this form and sending it to mail(at)forsoegsstationen.dk. If you have not been a member before, please include a short CV. Payment information will be sent to you after approval.