A WORKSHOP FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

The Lab Station aims to encourage research, development and training in the professional performing arts in Denmark. Professional performing arts are defined as including acting, musical theatre, opera, performance, physical and visual theatre, dance, circus, animation theatre and combinations of these genres, aimed at children, young people, or adults.

To achieve this goal, The Lab Station has established itself in the antique cinema Boulevard, situated in the Vesterbro district of Copenhagen. Here they offer ongoing training programmes, develop research projects, organise workshops and have a library of books and films on theatre and the arts.

The Lab Station wish to be a platform for performing artists to experiment with their craft through collaborations and mutual exchange.

Here you can carry out research and try out crazy ideas in a risk-free environment. Your experiences can be captured, disseminated and will hopefully have a long-term impact on new developments and trends within the performing arts.

Read more about our visions and activities in our newly published english booklet available in print at our premises or here in online version.

Furthermore an example of a research project made by The Lab Station – The Voice of the Audience – is available both in text here and video here.

 

FOR THE SAKE OF THE EXPERIMENT

To experiment is vital for all art, not just to innovate for the sake of innovation, but to push the artistic process somewhere else than where only the rational mind decides.

A true experiment avoids a predictable and biased result by putting us in an unfamiliar situation. To navigate there we are forced to be curious and subservient to the task. This will – if we invest both craft and soul – inevitably cause us to progress artistically.

If we really desire innovation in the performing arts, we must develop our acquaintance with this irrational subconscious landscape. The Lab Station exists to serve experimentation and its primary objective is therefore to encourage invention within performing arts in Denmark through training, research and development.

MEMBERSHIP

Any performer, either professional, graduate or student, can become a member of Forsøgsstationen (The Lab Station). Stop by or write to us at mail@forsoegsstationen.dk, using this membership formIf you are applying for the first time, please send a short CV along with the form.

You become a member of The Lab Station for one season at a time and you may join anytime of the year. Membership is valid for the rest of that season, ending 30th of June.

In August and September you can join for 1100 Dkk for the whole 2021/22 season.

Membership of The Lab Station provides access to:

• Morning training/classes
• Experiments
• Booking of rooms for rehearsals and training, etc.
• Workshops
• Skills development
• Use of library, kitchen, foyer
• Information on all activities at Forsøgsstationen

You may attend the open training/classes offered mornings and evenings.

You can register on a “first come – first served” basis, for the scheduled experiments. Some experiments will be for a specific audience and are therefore closed to members.

You can participate in workshops, skills development projects and all open showings of experiments. Once again, it is first come – first served.

By “experiment”, we mean a study of a given topic / issue / condition, in the performing arts, which is not steered towards a specific result, but which is tested, observed and gathered as new knowledge.

 

ARTISTIC RESEARCH RESIDENCIES

You may apply for and engage in your own artistic research at the Lab Station. Send your project description (intentionsrapport) to artistic director Lotte Faarup. The Lab Station is happy to assist you with consultancy and organizing. If your project is accepted, you may be granted up to 2 weeks of full time, free studio space and access to the biannual Platform showing – where the different research projects share their work and insights.

You can book a studio space for rehearsals, exercises, preparation, etc. up to 4 hour timeslots, up to three times a week, and up to 1 month in advance.

Studios may also be rented for performing arts activities. To rent a rehearsal studio please send your inquiry to our administration per email or telephone during office hours. You will receive confirmation of your reservation once the contract is signed and deposit received. Studio rental for the season 21/22 costs 1.170 DKK per day or 5.920 DKK per week.

You are always welcome to come work or socialize in our lobby or our library. We have wireless Internet throughout the building and there is always fresh coffee.