The Lab station
NEWSLETTER May & June 2020 – link to full version here.
The newsletter contains:
1. The seasonal trial
1. Update on the choir project
2. Since last
1. Organizational change
2. Thanks for this time
3. Again open to members
4. Face it
3. Upcoming activities
1. CPH STAGE programme for autumn
2. The Shape of the Audience
4. Current member attempts
1. Voices from Enghave Plads
2. Somewhere, some time
3. Body of Sand
4. THE WAKE OF SLEEP
5. Special for members
1. Use the network!
2. Temporary guidelines
3. Date of platform
4. Training
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Seasonal experiment launched and postponed
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Photo: still from documentary by Lotte Faarup and Helle Lyshøj
Our seasonal experiment “Silence, Pause, Audience Recollections (https://www.forsoegsstationen.dk/forsoeg/stilhed-pause-publikumserindringer/) ” had its first choir rehearsal on Friday 6 March. Composer Peter Bruun and choirmaster Erik Jakobsson introduced the audience to the newly composed work. Peter and Erik also formed the musical power-team at Lyden af Publikum, the season experiment in 2016/17, where we played at the Royal Theatre in connection with CPH STAGE (see short documentary here (https://vimeo.com/222439272) ) and were in Italy with in 2018 (link (https://youtu.be/0M-iKMPf0kU) ).
Due to lockdown, we have decided to move the project to August 2020 instead, with the first rehearsal on Friday 14 August. Fortunately, many of our participants would still like to join, and others interested are welcome to write to find out more. The seasonal experiment is part of a larger project that will run over the next few years with support from the BIKUBENFONDEN, among others. Read details about participation in the recruitment letter and about the trial here (https://www.forsoegsstationen.dk/forsoeg/stilhed-pause-publikumserindringer/) .
Registration and further information via email to Øyvind Kirchhoff at oyvind@forsoegsstationen.dk
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SIDEN SIDST…
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** Organizational change
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** Rikke Jeppesen Rod leaves the Research Station as Communications Officer
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For financial reasons, the Experimental Station has decided to change its administrative work structure after the summer holidays. Instead of two staff members, we have chosen to appoint only one administrator to the post, who will carry out the functions together with the artistic management.
Unfortunately, this means that we have to say goodbye to Rikke, who has been our communications officer for many years.
We will miss Rikke’s hard work, presence and always friendly helpfulness.
The research station held a farewell reception for Rikke on 12 June which, due to the coronavirus, was not announced on social media. There were shouts, speeches and hugs from a distance.
** New administrator at the Experimental Station
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The new administrator at the Experimental Station will be Charlotte Rindom, who will take up the post on 5 August 2020. For several years, Charlotte has helped the Research Station with fund applications and administrative tasks. We look forward to welcoming Charlotte after the summer holidays.
Charlotte replaces Lise Aagaard Knudsen who has been employed as a substitute teacher since February. Lise came in at short notice and has done the job with great enthusiasm and professionalism. She is now on maternity leave.
** Thanks for this time
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Photo: Rikke J Rod – collection of countless bouquets for a…
It’s been so fun, educational, challenging and life-changing to be part of the team at the Experimental Station, and there’s no doubt I’m going to miss everyday life in the old cinema and all the kitchen talk, artistic quantum leaps, and cracked coffee cups that go with it… “but what happens now?” you may ask. It’s still an open question, but I want to continue working with mediation – and preferably within the framework of art.
A small exclusive group helped to celebrate this point and comma in my association with the Experimental Station. Full stop, because I’m leaving my job as communication officer; Comma, because I have to do the documentation report on Silence, Pause, Audience Recollections, which was moved to autumn because of Covid-19. I’m looking forward to following the ‘2’ in this wonderful project, which has a special place in my heart. I have unique memories of the LYDEN AF PUBLIKUM in 2017 and again in 2018 when we were in Turin. In addition, I received a membership for the season 20/21 as a gift, so maybe there will be opportunities for more creative thoughts and movements too…
I am happy and touched by all the kind words I have received, both at the reception and otherwise. Thank you so much to Lotte & Øyvind for setting the scene for this fine finale, which I will treasure as a fond memory. I’m ready for new chapters after such a boost!
Please contact me with tips at rikkejeppesenrod@gmail.com, via facebook or my linkedin profile. (http://www.linkedin.com/in/rikkejeppesenrod) I am also in the process of making a small website as a kind of CV, where I also share some of my creative projects as well. See you out there!
KH Rikke
** Open again!
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We have been closed down as instructed by the authorities and are now slowly reopening to members. The first day was the June 2. We will then close again for this season on Tuesday 30 June and not reopen until 1 August. The office is still not open for personal enquiries about rent or membership. Inquiries should be made by email or over the phone until further notice.
** Face it!
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Photo: Sofie Adelsparre
Wednesday 10 June saw a screening of The Narrative Theatre’s new production “Face it!”, which was in the running for the April Festival when they had to close down. Viola Ellehammer Dasseville and Jesper la Cour had just taken a decisive dramaturgical step, had a serious idea for a stage space and developed some unique stage expressions that had to be played out for and with the audience. “Face it!” is based on the Tibetan folktale “The Lovers”, an interpretation of the consequences of the hateful mother’s influence on her children and the world around her, which is the driving force of the story.
On Wednesday, they shared intentions through storytelling, screenings and conversations that have led to the script that has resulted from the process.
Read more about the project here (https://www.forsoegsstationen.dk/2020/05/27/visning-med-det-fortaellende-teater/) .
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Upcoming activities
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** CPH STAGE PROGRAM – in autumn
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https://vimeo.com/418358672
Photo: still from film teaser – first rehearsal with choir before shutdown
This autumn, a version of the OPEN HOUSE programme from the cancelled CPH STAGE 2020 will be held in conjunction with Kulturnatten. There will be a premiere of the works emerging from Silence, Pause, Audience Memories, and further programme announcements will be made later. The projects and activities of the Open House programme are made possible by the support of the Danish Arts Foundation, the Bikuben Foundation, the Vesterbro Local Committee and the Lasson Andersen Foundation.
Our talented video documentarian Helle Lyshøj is again on the sidelines and has made a first short film about the project based on the first rehearsal held in March. Click here (https://vimeo.com/418358672) or on the photo above to see it.
One of our valued choir veterans Knud Wohlmuth has sadly passed away recently. He was very enthusiastic about being part of the Sound of the Audience, and together with his good friend Henrik Bencke has shown great dedication and joy in participating – and therefore wanted to be part of it this time. We will miss him. Honoured be his memory.
Photo: still from video
** “The Shape of the Audience”
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The dancers of the project Antoinette Helbing and Katrien van der Velden.
Photos: DDSKS (th), Jan Vesala (tv) and Rikke J Rod (background)
“The Shape of the Audience” is an experimental project that focuses on the movement patterns of the audience, both as a collective organism and as individuals. The desire is to make a field study of audience movements as social signals observed in the spaces offered to the audience when they seek out the performing arts such as.In the foyer, in the auditorium, in the audience rows, in the cloakrooms, at the entrance/exit, in the bar, in the toilets… Here, the audience stands in line, sneaks past each other, sits shoulder to shoulder, moves forward in a large group, walks lonely across a floor, runs quickly towards a door, turns their heads, rummages in their bags, looks at their watches, holds their breath, claps in time, shakes their heads…
The project is the second part of a larger exploration of the role of the audience in theatre. It is about understanding audience relations from an overall artistic and social motive. There is a great need for reciprocity, exchange and respect between the performing arts and the public, so as not to “educate” or “develop” the public, but rather to extend the relationship, albeit still in a context of high artistic quality. In addition to the artistic direction of Forsøgsstation, Antoinette Helbing and Katrien van der Velden will participate as dancers, and Helle Lyshøj as video documentarian.
Read more about the project here (https://www.forsoegsstationen.dk/forsoeg/the-shape-of-the-audience/) .
The project is supported by the Danish Arts Foundation and the Bikuben Foundation.
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News about membership trials
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It is always possible to read about ongoing or previous trials on the website (http://forsoegsstationen.us8.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=7e4ab507ee0681aacca9cd6c7&id=77f3986bcb&e=7b9b825c44) , where you can also download trial reports and read the trial intention reports – that is, the trial team’s presentation of the trial itself. Members can apply for time and sparring on trials – see how here (http://forsoegsstationen.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7e4ab507ee0681aacca9cd6c7&id=ee294188b7&e=7b9b825c44) . Views may not always make it into the newsletter, so keep an eye on our facebook page (http://forsoegsstationen.us8.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=7e4ab507ee0681aacca9cd6c7&id=3ce7a29bec&e=7b9b825c44) and the website if you are particularly interested in experiencing the artistic research processes up close…
In season 16/17 we had the pleasure of an experiment with the group Otherness Project, led by Rita Sebestyén (Hungary). She has just published an article about the process of the Birth/Breath trial she led at the Experiment Station in 2017 in a research journal. Read more on the updated website (https://www.forsoegsstationen.dk/forsoeg/birthbreath/) of the experiment.
Photo: Minni Mertens
** Membership trials in the calendar…
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** Voices from Enghave Plads
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Photo: Anna Kruse
After 8 years of metro construction and the closure of a square that is the setting for much local life in Vesterbro, Enghave Plads is alive again. Singer and composer Anna Kruse will explore how to transform interviews into poetic material for interpretation through song in her experiment “Voices from Enghave Plads”. Is it possible to develop a proper methodology?
The ambition of the project is to give voice to citizens who are connected to the square in some way; how does the drunkard, the skater, the baker or the dog walker experience the change that has happened and how has it affected their lives? And what has happened in their lives in the last 8 years – how have they been transformed?
The project was delayed due to Corona but is now ready with a series of intimate “Parkbench concerts” on Enghave square.
Read more about the trial here (https://www.forsoegsstationen.dk/forsoeg/stemmer-fra-enghave-plads/) .
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Somewhere, some time
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The experiment “Somewhere, some time” The experiment is led by choreographer and dancer Karin Bergman, and Marie Bru Eide (NO), Max Wallmeier (DE), Anna Lea Ourø (DK) and Emilie Gregersen (DK) are also participating in the experiment. The study at The Lab station is part of an ambitious multi-layered project that has already been underway in several other residency contexts. Development of a dance format called ‘long durational dance’ for 5 dancers, and parallel development of a dance technique based on this artistic practice.
The trial was to have taken place in May-June 2020, but has been moved to autumn 2020, in the new 20/21 season.
Read more here (https://www.forsoegsstationen.dk/forsoeg/somewhere-some-time/) .
** Body of Sand
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Photos: Tora Balslev & Jens Juul
The experiment “Body of Sand” explores the question “What is the choreographic potential of interaction between body, movement and sand?”. The experiment is led by choreographer Tora Balslev. Other participants are Antoinette Helbing, Betina Birkjær, Katrine Stewart and Jens Juul. The experiment is a continuation of another experiment that Tora Balslev held in the 18/19 season entitled “Fair Phone (https://www.forsoegsstationen.dk/forsoeg/fair-phone/) ” which later became the performance “Nature Calls” and inspired by “The Imprint of the Body (https://www.forsoegsstationen.dk/forsoeg/aftryk-efter-kroppen-i-bevaegelse/) ” led by Katrine Stewart, in which Tora participated as a dancer. The trial will take place in autumn 2020.
Read more about the trial here (https://www.forsoegsstationen.dk/forsoeg/body-of-sand/) .
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** THE WAKE OF SLEEP
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Photo: Sara Gebran
THE WAKE OF SLEEP is an experiment based on several years of exploration in a collective framework, as a natural continuation of previous experiments (A land where no dragons hide (https://www.forsoegsstationen.dk/forsoeg/a-land-where-no-dragons-hide/) ) and the book publication “Another Hole (http://saragebran.com/projects/another%20hole.html) ” from 2019. The experiment is led by Sara Gebran (VZ/DK) and Rebecka Stillman in collaboration with Karis Zidore (SE), Maria Stiernborg, and Olivia Riviera (DK/SE).
In this residency we are continuing investigation public intimacy, on stage. The different ways intimacy could be understood as a public affair, one which could help developed forms of inclusion among people that don’t know each other. I called “Social Intimacy” a practice of using ‘trust’, to help a group of people unknown to each other feel safe and included in unfamiliar situations, creating any relations at any moment, without the history that precedes it, like networks of relations in cyberspace appears simultaneously in any space-time-context, as Multi-Realities. A community related by the fact of being human.
Quote from the intention report
Read more about the trial here (https://www.forsoegsstationen.dk/forsoeg/the-wake-of-sleep/) .
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Special for members
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** Use the network!
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We would like to encourage members to use this unique network (which many already do – not least via the facebook group “Forsøgsstationen intern” (https://www.facebook.com/groups/944010352410912/) ) – both in the form of invitations to screenings of trials or rehearsals, but of course also when it is time to play a performance.
** Temporary guidelines
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We don’t yet know what the guidelines for our industry will be in August, but for now, based on the requirements of the authorities, we have made temporary guidelines for the use of the house, which apply until we announce new.
However, we are closed for the month of July.
** Platform
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The next platform is Friday 11 December, 5-9pm – members who have done experiments in the past six months will present their work and discoveries in some form, and can invite collaborators or other interested parties to watch. The platform is open to all members and non-members, as long as you are interested in engaging in dialogue about creative work.
** Training offers and workshops
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We’ll be back with information on training for the 20/21 season when we start again, but there will be GAGA, voice training and dancing on Monday evenings as usual.