NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2017
Link to full version here.
The newsletter contains:
- Main experiment with Performing Arts Schools
- Actors and puppeteers wanted!
- Since last
- Change of shift in administration
- The sound of the audience
- Upcoming activities
- Lecture Hans-Thies Lehmann
- Odin Theatre in Copenhagen
- General Assembly
- GAGA workshop
- Current membership attempts
- SLAG at Bådteatret
- Story play – featured in house artist evaluation report!
- The Olske Orchestra – training trials
- TOTAL!IN!
- Special for members
- Training
- Renewal of membership
The third part of the main experiment “Aesthetics of Death” is launched:
The Scenographic Actor
The third and final part, entitled “The Scenographic Actor”, will be carried out in week 43, 2017 – and is a collaborative project between the Danish School of Performing Arts (DDSKS) and Forsøgsstationen. It is a study of external technique, as a pathway to a new method for the creative processes of the actor, puppeteer and set designer. The experiment is led by Øyvind Kirchhoff and Charlotte Munksø from DDSKS Copenhagen.
Through concrete physical barriers and obstructions, it explores how external constraints can liberate and open up new possibilities for the actor’s work and expression. Read more about the project here.
The experiment is part of a three-part study led by Øyvind Kirchhoff entitled “The Actor and the Über-Marionette”. The first part was conducted in autumn 2015 and the second part, entitled “The Aesthetics of Death” was held in October 2016, as a 5-day development project and an open knowledge sharing seminar.
Read the recent report here.
Wanted: professional actors and puppeteers!
We need 3 more professional actors and/or puppeteers who would like to participate in the experiment. Unfortunately, we cannot offer a salary. On the other hand, there will be ample opportunity to develop new technical tools and strengthen professional networks. We will be a group of 12 in total, including 5 third year students from DDSKS Copenhagen.
Write to Øyvind Kirchhoff to be considered. Depending on interest, there may be a selection.
SIDEN SIDST…
Change of administration
Unfortunately, we have to say goodbye to our long-standing administrator at the Experimental Station, Pil Rix Rossel, who has been offered his dream job – as a full-time producer for the Kristján Ingimarsson Company – and will therefore be leaving the Experimental Station on 1 October.
We wish her all the best in her new job and thank her for a great cooperation over the years!
Farewell reception
We will be holding a reception to mark her departure on Tuesday 26 September at 7pm here in the old cinema. It is in continuation of the Annual General Meeting to be held from 17:30 (notice sent to members).
We hope to fill the vacant ‘chair’ in the office as soon as possible – please share with your respective networks that we are looking – so we can have an equally good administrator again…
See the full announcement here – and feel free to share it in your network, for example via facebook – we hope to hire a new administrator already on 1 October.
News from the “Sound of the Audience”
On Friday 18 August, the choir had a ‘reunion’ where we watched the work in its entirety on the big screen, ate together, and not least talked about the experiences of making the work – and what it was like to experience it as an audience! Everyone was pleasantly surprised.
In November we will be holding a seminar on the SOUND OF THE PUBLIC. More information on this will follow.
The Voice of the Audience is part of CaravanNext, a large scale European Social Community Theatre project – www.caravanext.eu
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 into 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…
Right now our member Helene Kvint is performing “SLAG” at Bådteatret. It’s based on experiments Helene has done here in the old cinema (read about the experiment here) – she’s got great reviews – and you can book tickets here. Congratulations from here!
Another of our members as well as ‘resident’ and member representative in the board, Jesper la Cour Andersen, has developed a concept he calls STORY PLAY through his many years of work in the Narrative Theatre and through experiments here in the house. Last year, he was invited by a primary school to do a house art project based on the concept. The project is included in the recently published evaluation of the house artist scheme (read the report here). The experiment continues this winter with the final part of the triology. For more information, you can read the report from the latest trial here.
Membership attempts in the calendar…
AUGUST
The meeting of poetic narrative and expressionist physical theatre
In August 2017, the Olske Orkester will start a 3-year research project at the Forsøgsstationen, which will investigate and develop a theatrical form language based on a combination of poetic narrative and expressionistic physical theatre.
The research project is a further development of the formal language created by the Olske Orkester with the award-winning and much-performed performance “When We Went Away” and forms the artistic basis for the theatre’s upcoming major venture, the trilogy “A Nation’s Self-Hatred – Denmark Between Shame and Self-Evaluation” consisting of the performances “Sugar”, “Salt” and “Who’s Knocking”?
The research project works on a weekly basis and involves a company of 6 actors/dancers and a director.
TOTAL!IN!
The second part of the experiment is now in full swing: TOTAL!DANS! as a family performance? – where it is investigated how TOTAL!DANS! works as a family performance where children 7-10 years are participating audience and their companions/family members a traditional seated audience.
Idea and dance: Ellen Kilsgaard
Dance: Rosa Meyer and Anu Rajala-Erkut
Live music: Henriette Groth
Read more about the trial here.
See also the invitation for interested children and their families to participate in this trial in week 36 here!
Upcoming activities
LECTURE WITH HANS-THIES LEHMANN
The long-awaited lecture by Hans-Thies Lehmann is now just around the corner! The lecture deals with his current views on performing arts. Hans-Thies Lehmann is Professor Emeritus of Theatre Studies at Frankfurt am Main Goethe University. Read more about the event and his merits here.
The discussion will be moderated by Professor Knut Ove Arntzen, Institute for Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies, University of Bergen.
The lecture will take place on Friday 8 September 2017 at 19.00-21.30 in Boulevarden at the Experimental Station.
There are no more places left for the lecture and a waiting list has also been set up for the event. It is important to cancel if you have already secured a place and still cannot come. You can do this by sending an email to gritt(at)forsoegsstationen.dk
The event will be livestreamed via this channel.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
On Tuesday 26 September, the Experimental Station will hold its annual general meeting in Boulevarden at 17:30-18:30 – members will receive a notice in a separate mail.
In connection with the General Assembly, a reception will be held for Pil Rix Rossel, who will leave the Research Station on 1 October. It takes place in the foyer from 19:00.
ODIN TEATRET – The Tree – in Copenhagen in September
Odin Teatret, good friends and collaborators for many years, is in Copenhagen with the performance The Tree. They are playing at Theatre V – and we would like to encourage you to see this wonderful and wild performance. Read more about the show and order tickets here.
“It is this everyday engagement with the barbaric that is most frightening about Eugenio Barba’s excellent new performance The Tree. The now 79-year-old director has never been afraid to depict cynical violence on stage. But here in The Tree, the violence has escalated because war has now supposedly gone global. All people now carry their traumas with them like flights with no place to go. As the soldier soberly explains this feeling: “You have to be friends with the war.”….. Scenographically, The Tree is some of Denmark’s most analogue and mechanically finatural theatre on an international level.”
Anne Middelbo Christensen, Dagbladet Information, 20-09-2016
GAGA & Research
There will be GAGA with Siri Wolthoorn on the programme this season – both weekly and more intensive. Read more about Siri and GAGA here.
Siri launches with GAGA & Research weekend on 7. – 8 October 2017. Both days 10-13. Participation is free for members but also open to non-members for a fee. It costs 400 for non-members. Register at rikke@forsoegsstationen.dk – first come first served and remember you need to renew your membership to secure a free place.
Special for members
New training offers and workshops
From September 2017 (week 36) there will be new training offers, while we continue the popular voice training with Angelina Watson on Wednesdays at 9-10:45, Rikke Liljenberg’s ShakespeareLab on the first Sunday of the month, and mask work on Fridays at 9-10:30 (the latter only from 27 October).
The MHS training will be scheduled as weekend trainings throughout the season. The first is scheduled to take place on Sunday 29 October from 10-14.
Also read about the upcoming GAGA & research weekend – which is free for members to attend. For non-members it costs 400 DKK.
Basic modern dance training
Monday 18-19:30 ‘Basic’ and 19:30-21 ‘Flow and technique’
We have reached an agreement with Stands&Dans for the coming season. They will have two classes here every Monday between 6pm and 9pm in Boulevarden. It will be possible for 2 members to join the training for free, you sign up for 4 weeks at a time. Read more about the teams on their website here. Stands&Dans is responsible for the talent development of young dance talents through Dansebryggeriet and all teachers are professional performing artists. Stands&Dans is a member of Forsøgsstationen, and we look forward to exciting development projects and experiments from their ‘edge’!
Gaga
Thursday 9-10:30 (from 12 October – week 41)
There will be GAGA with Siri Wolthoorn on the programme this season – both weekly and more intensive.
Siri graduated from Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Amsterdam. After graduation, she danced for three years with Batsheva Dance Company, Ensemble. In 2010 she moved to Copenhagen, where she has worked with Dansk Danseteater, Mute Dance Company, Yossi and Oded Dance Theatre and Recoil Performance Group. Siri teaches, as the only one in Denmark, Gaga People and Gaga Dancers.
Read more about GAGA here.
Siri launches with GAGA & Research weekend on 7. – 8 October 2017. Both days 10-13. Participation is free for members but also open to non-members for a fee. It costs 400 for non-members. Register at rikke@forsoegsstationen.dk – first come first served and remember you need to renew your membership to secure a free place.
From week 41 (minus the autumn holidays) she will be standing in for Gaga on Thursday mornings at 9-10:30am. Registration for this training is not required.
In short, the training offer for the 17/18 season looks like this:
Monday 18 & 19:30 – Modern Dance (Stands&Dans)**
Wednesday 9-11: Voice training*
Thursday 9-10:30: Gaga***
Friday 9-10:30: Mask work***
*) Registration required by 21:00 the evening before by SMS to 20150949.
**) Also read more about the teams on their website here. There are places for two members on each team – you sign up 4 weeks at a time (as a member of the Experimental Station).
***) Masquerade on Fridays from 9-10:30 starts on 27 October, and Gaga on Thursdays from 9-10:30 starting on 12 October (minus the autumn holidays, week 42).
In addition, Rikke Liljenberg offers ShakespeareSundayLab on selected Sundays 10:30-13:00. The first time will be on September 3, 2017 in Boulevarden. 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 DKK 100 per session.
Renewal of membership
Become a member of Forsøgsstationen or renew your membership for the 17/18 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.