What is joy when its ephemerality and fragility tend towards its own dissolution? In Kat Válastur‘s new work the performers embody the emotional complexity of joy which constantly collapses. In a visually playful set where three human-sized sculptures are placed, the performers unfold a choreographic swing of joy that turns into horror. “Arcana Swarm” is a new HAU production for seven performers and the third part of the work cycle “The Staggered Dances of Beauty,” which deals with scenarios and varieties of our bodies exposed in a radically changing world. For this piece, Válastur works again with the technique of “morphing” as a transformative force. The body shows the affects and effects that derive from the tensions of the current technological, environmental and political conditions of a precarious and anthropocentric world.
After the event on November 22: Artist talk with Ana Vujanović (Berlin / Belgrade). Vujanović is a cultural worker focused on bringing together critical theory and contemporary art.
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Production: Kat Válastur / HAU Hebbel am Ufer. Supported by: The Fondation d’entreprise Hermès as part of its New Settings Program.
Co-production: Théâtre de la Ville (Paris), PACT Zollverein (Essen), Theater Freiburg. Funded by: Capital Cultural Fund (Berlin), Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe. Residency support: STUK Leuven, Tanzhaus Zürich, Centrale Fies / Live Works.
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