NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017
Link to full version here.

Spring is here!
…and so is the first video teaser for “The Sound of the Audience”:

Video designer Helle Lyshøj has made this first glimpse of what the main experiment “The sound of the audience” offers.

The newsletter contains:

  1. New brochure ready to go into circulation
  2. News from the “Sound of the Audience”
  3. KBH READING event
  4. Since last
    1. Reception “Chinese Drama”
  5. Platform date changed
  6. Current membership attempts
  7. Update on workshop with Nadine George
  8. Residencies
  9. Special for members
    1. Training hours
    2. Membership

So is the Experimental Station brochure
published in a new edition!

We have revised and fine-tuned according to all the rules of the art. We’d really like to get it out and ‘working’ across the country, so when you should be in the house, take a stack under your arm and put a few where you can get to…
It is also available in PDF format – read online here.

We are currently working on the English version. You’ll be notified when it’s sent into orbit!

News from the main experiment “The sound of the audience”

We had our first choir rehearsal on Friday – and it’s going well. In addition to getting to grips with the first movements, we got background stories from Lotte Faarup about how this project came about – as another project born out of curiosity about the audience as co-creators in the theatre space. Lotte told us about the Total Theatre! experiment, where they experimented with how a child audience acted and interacted in a stage space where they physically became part of the performance. We also got the latest news that Korværket will be presented both here in the old cinema on 1 – 2 June and at the Royal Theatre, Skuespilhuset on 3 and 4 June.

There is still room for more cord participants, also children (from 10 years), so write if you would like to join. Rehearsals are on Fridays from 16:30-19. Write to Øyvind Kirchhoff for more information or to register.

Vesterbro Theatre Festival
In connection with the Vesterbro Theatre Festival, we will also hold an open rehearsal, where anyone interested can attend or try their hand at the choral work. Read more about the event here.

The project is part of a larger European artistic and social project in 20 European cities entitled “Caravan Next” with Nordic Theatre Laboratory – Odin Teatret from Holstebro as initiator. 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.

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 help with various tasks related to the project. If you know someone or would be interested in being part of the team, please contact Øyvind Kirchhoff to find out more.

The Voice of the Audience is part of CaravanNext, a large scale European Social Community Theatre project – www.caravanext.eu

KBH LÆSER 2017 – workshop

This Friday – 3 March at 9-11 am – the mask training is replaced by the KBH LÆSER workshop “Mask work, personal growth and presence”.
Admission is free for all.

About the workshop: Teater værk and Det Olske Orkester, in collaboration with Copenhagen Main Library and KBH LÆSER 2017, invite you to an open workshop on the creative processes of art using masks for the performance “The fox goes out there”.

Read more about this and other events under KBH LÆSER here.

Since last

Publication reception for “Chinese Drama”

On Tuesday 28 February 2017, Forsøgsstationen had the great pleasure of hosting a reception to celebrate the publication of the anthology ‘Chinese Drama’, edited by Gritt Uldall-Jessen and Jimbut Jun Feng.

Peter Damgaard, PhD and translator of Chinese literature, gave a presentation on the significance of this publication and possible interpretations of selected contributions, in the light of (cultural-political) reality in China today, and an incredibly strong 2,000-year-old poetic tradition. We enjoyed anecdotes about the making of the book, served by the translators themselves, and were served fermented tea and very strong Chinese brandy. Congratulations to the team behind this exciting publication: Jimbut Jun Feng, Sidse Laugesen, Øyvind Kirchhoff, Jette Lund and, not least, Gritt Uldall-Jessen, who has been the overall supervisor of the project. The book has also received a fine reader’s review, so hopefully it will be available in the country’s major libraries, and can also be purchased on the publisher’s website.

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. Re-read/re-listen to reviews of the reading festival here.

New date for Platform in June

The next platform – where participants in the member trials share process and insights with each other and other interested parties – will be on Thursday 15 June at 17-20 instead of the first announced Friday June 16.

Current membership attempts
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 experiments at the Experimental Station both generate knowledge, can be part of the artistic preparation for actual productions, or lead to completely new explorations. This month’s example is topical this season in several ways, though it stems from a main attempt back in the 2012/13 season called “Total Theater!” The experiment was the starting point for the performance “No dear mother” which premiered in 2013 at ZeBU (with Vild Kammerat, directed by Lotte Faarup). The show has its premiere at Aprilfestival 2017.

Choreographer Ellen Kilsgaard has also been responsible for this experimental work. The experiment “Total! dance! for children” ran for the first time in 2014, and has since been presented in Åben Dans. Ellen will be back in the ‘lab’ in May with a new experiment, working on this exciting format (more on this in a later newsletter). Cand. Karen Vedel, PhD and Associate Professor at the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, KU, has been involved in several of the projects and in 2013 wrote a research report based on Totalteater! experiment, which can be read here in our cosy little library.

Membership attempts in the calendar…

FEBRUARY
Birth/Breath

BIRTH/BREATH worked here in February, concluding with a series of screenings in week 7. The experiment was a performative one, creating a sensory space where performance, sound, smoke and light become the subject of investigation into the theme of breathing, as a ubiquitous condition of life. The project was led by Rita Sebestyen and the Othernessproject group. Read more about the trial here.

Dark
The trial ran until the end of January, and ended on 11 February with a screening. The experiment was led by performing artist Julie Kunz and together with lighting designer Michael Breiner, Julie explored the fundamental question: “Can we learn to accept darkness as part of our being and thus achieve a more nuanced and comforting relationship with the world and ourselves?”

Read more about the trial here.

MARCH/APRIL
“The core” – where is the limit?
“In this experiment we explore the concept of ‘borders’. We will take our circus speciality – partner acrobatics – as a starting point and explore the boundaries we encounter here. The physical limitations we face, the fears we confront and how this can affect the audience and ourselves”.

The trial runs from 3 April to. 16 April 2017. The leaders of the experiment are Tuk & Sofie, professional new-circus artists specialized in partner acrobatics. In 2012 they graduated from the French circus school Le Lido, and have since been performing and teaching around Europe.

Read more about the trial here.

Update workshop with Nadine George
Details of workshop with Nadine George, internationally renowned voice teacher.
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. The course is currently fully booked. For those interested, we have an open rehearsal on the last day of the workshop, where a smaller audience can get an insight into the work. Nadine George’s work, and the significance of it for an entire performing arts education institution, is described in the publication “Growing Voices. Nadine George Technique: the evolution of its influence in training and performance” from 2013, edited by Professor Ros Steen Director of the Centre for Voice in Performance, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
You can secure a place as an audience member for the open audition by emailing rikke@forsoegsstationen.dk – participation is free.

The texts are from the play “John Gabriel Borkman” (1896) by Ibsen. The second last play he wrote. The original version is available digitally through the National Library of Norway via this link. Here is an extract from a review of the first edition, written by Poul Levin, Politiken, 16 December 1896.

“Perhaps Ibsen has never before written a play in which his technical art stands so high. In John Gabriel Borkman, what was in olden days called the unity of time is observed as closely as is at all possible. The time in which the play “takes place” is exactly as long as that in which it is read or seen; there is no longer interval between the acts than the moment in which the page is turned, or the curtain of the theatre is let down and up. So violent is the life of the play, that the very rapidity of it makes one’s thoughts follow. One is whirled along.” (URL: http://ibsen.nb.no/id/11181151.0)

Photo of poster from the first reading of the play in London – from the website “All about Ibsen” at the National Library, Norway.

Residencies
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).

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 March 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.