Tanzquartier Wien

“The different performers are working towards opening up their physical potentials. As the process develops, I realise more and more that even very small movements can be vehement. Normative perceptions and conceptions of energy and power are destabilised, shaken up.” Doris Uhlich

After the duet Ravemachine, Doris Uhlich creates individual and communal “forms of energy dance” in this ensemble piece for people with physical impairments. Every body has specific abilities to articulate its dynamism and its carnal pleasure. The movements themselves allow the body to charge itself up, acting as a kind of fuel produced naturally in the body. Every Body Electric is a radical invitation to explore potentials through the medium of dance, to make them visible and delve deep into an archaeology of energy.

What else becomes possible if machines – such as wheelchairs, prostheses, crutches – are not perceived as obstacles but as extensions of the body and are also staged as such? Personal rhythms, dynamics, beats and physical characteristics result in very individual dance styles. Ultimately, the topical relevance of Every Body Electric but also its poetry, oscillating between gentle and forceful, lie in the way it alters both the self-awareness and the perception of these bodies.

A horseradish grater is about to take on a central role in TQW. It consists of a metal bracket and four grating surfaces. The metal bracket at the top end of the grater is there to support the left hand during grating, providing sufficient stability to the grater in the process. The horseradish symbolises the extract of thought. The origin of the horseradish is explained in the header of the accompanying poster; also, the artist always carries a horseradish root whenever they visit TQW. The institution supplies the horseradish graters. In the spirit of Marcel Duchamp: “Le célibataire broie son chocolat lui-même.”

Staircases stand for ascent and descent, endings and beginnings. Bodies go up and down staircases. They are spaces of coming and going, of before and after. The floor of a staircase is folded, the space is bent. “We don’t think enough about staircases,” Georges Perec claimed in his book Species of Spaces. Andrea Maurer works on the spaces between, beside, below and above the stairs and walls of the stairwell at TQW. A spatial construction? Question mark? Question mark! The emergency escape route must remain unobstructed.

“We know that people want to be loved. Not for what they are, but for what they appear to be.” Alejandro Jodorowsky/The Holy Mountain

Human beings only see and believe what they want to see and believe – especially with regard to themselves. And, of course, what they wish to represent to others. All that they represent is based on projections, subjective perception, hope, theatricality and, if they are artists, also on how successful they are as artists. Artists want to be loved, and they only feel loved when they are booked and sold to a sufficient extent. Then they believe, at least for a little while, that they matter and that their art is of value.

“In the fictional gallery at TQW we all matter, we are all loved for what we appear to be, and, in the end, all of us are sold.” Simon Steinhauser and Margareth Kaserer

“The life and work of Franko B is situated somewhere between isolation and seduction, benevolence and confrontation, suffering and eroticism, punk and poetry. It is a certain type of schizophrenia that finds a balance, dramatically undermining the status quo.” Becky Haghpanah-Shirwan

Supported by music from composer Helen Ottaway, Franko B creates a surreal dream setting in the performance I’m Thinking of You. While the naked body plays a central role as in all the Italian choreographer’s performances, in this piece it is also the theatrical presentation of objects and music that takes the audience on a contemplative journey. I’m Thinking of You conceives a romantic utopia of child-like imagination and carefreeness. A toy from Franko B’s childhood served as inspiration for this piece, and he has turned it into a sculpture for the performance.

“The life and work of Franko B is situated somewhere between isolation and seduction, benevolence and confrontation, suffering and eroticism, punk and poetry. It is a certain type of schizophrenia that finds a balance, dramatically undermining the status quo.” Becky Haghpanah-Shirwan

Supported by music from composer Helen Ottaway, Franko B creates a surreal dream setting in the performance I’m Thinking of You. While the naked body plays a central role as in all the Italian choreographer’s performances, in this piece it is also the theatrical presentation of objects and music that takes the audience on a contemplative journey. I’m Thinking of You conceives a romantic utopia of child-like imagination and carefreeness. A toy from Franko B’s childhood served as inspiration for this piece, and he has turned it into a sculpture for the performance.

Alexandra Pirici’s Delicate Instruments of Engagement wanders through the past, the present and the future, pondering the increasingly blurry lines between politics and pop culture. With five performers, the artist recreates a subjective selection of images, situations and Internet memes that have become iconographic memories of our time.

The audience can choose different beginnings from the various stories over and over again. These include, among others, images of Ceauşescu’s execution after the Romanian revolution, the almost identical speeches delivered by Michelle Obama and Melania Trump, the removal of the full-size tapestry copy of Picasso’s Guernica at the UN during a speech by US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, to garner approval for an intervention in Iraq, Joseph Beuys’ whisky commercial from 1984 for the Japanese brand Nikka, which served the artist as a means to finance the 7000 Oaks project for the documenta, George Michael’s song Freedom ’90 and sequences from Grace Jones’ video Slave to the Rhythm.

Staircases stand for ascent and descent, endings and beginnings. Bodies go up and down staircases. They are spaces of coming and going, of before and after. The floor of a staircase is folded, the space is bent. “We don’t think enough about staircases,” Georges Perec claimed in his book Species of Spaces. Andrea Maurer works on the spaces between, beside, below and above the stairs and walls of the stairwell at TQW. A spatial construction? Question mark? Question mark! The emergency escape route must remain unobstructed.

Mark Tompkins offers a first look at his work process during his residency at Tanzquartier Wien in STAYIN ALIVE. The performance is a meditation on ageing and death. How is one to deal with accepting one’s own age? Mark Tompkins faces the inevitable transformation of body, mind and soul. In doing so, the France-based choreographer challenges the way society treats elderly people, who are generally considered as being devoid of elegance and creativity.

He merges several characters of different age, sex and gender with real and fictional memories into a game of dance, poetry and music. On this trip full of surprises, Mark Tompkins is assisted by Jean-Louis Badet, his closest associate for 30 years, responsible for both stage and costume design. Frans Poelstra, Tompkins’ alter ego for 40 years, directs.

“And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make.” The Beatles

“Cubas’ works not only try to think about the ‘others’ who are constructed by hegemonic forces, but also the ‘others’ of the self-empowering, decolonial processes too often lead by local, white, heterosexual, middle-class, cultural elites.” Lucía Naser/Seismopolite

Uruguayan choreographer and artist Tamara Cubas counts among the most distinctive voices on the South American performance scene, while still being largely unknown in Europe. Over 1,000 scattered planks of wood in Act 2 – To Resist provide the shaky ground for a one-hour state of emergency. The vibrations generated by the unstable surface reinforce the trance-like resistance displayed by the five dancers. They symbolise a new form of living together, liberated from superordinate authorities. The tense atmosphere drawing the audience in becomes ever more charged over the course of the performance.

To Resist is the middle part of Tamara Cubas’ Anthropophagic Trilogy, which examines three choreographic works from Brazil, the origin of the cultural anthropophagic movement established in the 1920s in answer to the European culture of dominance. To Resist is intended as an act of resistance against the commercialisation of our emotions and bodies but also against the institutionalisation and hierarchisation of human relationships.

“I’m fascinated by duration in performance and by the blur that time makes of the borders between art and life. What starts as art becomes something else.“ Tim Etchells

Alexander Gottfarb sets up shop to present Negotiations. For a whole year, ten dancers of different generations will take turns performing at this subsidiary of TQW every day during regular business hours, i.e. from 10.00 to 18.00 – let’s not forget that dancing is proper labour. The mammoth project is the third performance by the Swedish choreographer that examines the relationships between movement and systems of belief.

Negotiations takes the form of a public social ritual that analyses the practice of collaboration, dialogue and exchange. The movements oscillate between recognisable iconic gestures and abstract patterns. Negotiations invites the audience – as well as accidental passers-by – to stay in the “dance subsidiary” for as long as they like and to keep coming back. The duration of a year will present many opportunities to view this work under ever-changing parameters. After all, the performance on a dark Monday afternoon in winter offers a very different experience from that on a hot Sunday morning in the summer.

Information on compacted versions and highlights of the programme will be available at tqw.at.

Mark Tompkins offers a first look at his work process during his residency at Tanzquartier Wien in STAYIN ALIVE. The performance is a meditation on ageing and death. How is one to deal with accepting one’s own age? Mark Tompkins faces the inevitable transformation of body, mind and soul. In doing so, the France-based choreographer challenges the way society treats elderly people, who are generally considered as being devoid of elegance and creativity.

He merges several characters of different age, sex and gender with real and fictional memories into a game of dance, poetry and music. On this trip full of surprises, Mark Tompkins is assisted by Jean-Louis Badet, his closest associate for 30 years, responsible for both stage and costume design. Frans Poelstra, Tompkins’ alter ego for 40 years, directs.

“And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make.” The Beatles

Staircases stand for ascent and descent, endings and beginnings. Bodies go up and down staircases. They are spaces of coming and going, of before and after. The floor of a staircase is folded, the space is bent. “We don’t think enough about staircases,” Georges Perec claimed in his book Species of Spaces. Andrea Maurer works on the spaces between, beside, below and above the stairs and walls of the stairwell at TQW. A spatial construction? Question mark? Question mark! The emergency escape route must remain unobstructed.

Alexandra Pirici’s Delicate Instruments of Engagement wanders through the past, the present and the future, pondering the increasingly blurry lines between politics and pop culture. With five performers, the artist recreates a subjective selection of images, situations and Internet memes that have become iconographic memories of our time.

The audience can choose different beginnings from the various stories over and over again. These include, among others, images of Ceauşescu’s execution after the Romanian revolution, the almost identical speeches delivered by Michelle Obama and Melania Trump, the removal of the full-size tapestry copy of Picasso’s Guernica at the UN during a speech by US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, to garner approval for an intervention in Iraq, Joseph Beuys’ whisky commercial from 1984 for the Japanese brand Nikka, which served the artist as a means to finance the 7000 Oaks project for the documenta, George Michael’s song Freedom ’90 and sequences from Grace Jones’ video Slave to the Rhythm.

Glocal Dances is the name Anne Lise Le Gac and Élie Ortis have given to the collection of amateur dance videos they found on Facebook and Youtube. This has triggered an unending conversation about the largely unknown dance style grand mal, which mostly takes place online because Élie lives in Paris and Anne Lise in Marseille. But every now and then the two of them get together and present their digital “trashure box” packed with Michel de Montaigne quotes on a stage. Grand Mal becomes an enraptured dancefloor without reservation. A lonely hearts club that devotes itself unconditionally to the music of none other than the Italian dance king Gigi D’Agostino.

“Cubas’ works not only try to think about the ‘others’ who are constructed by hegemonic forces, but also the ‘others’ of the self-empowering, decolonial processes too often lead by local, white, heterosexual, middle-class, cultural elites.” Lucía Naser/Seismopolite

Uruguayan choreographer and artist Tamara Cubas counts among the most distinctive voices on the South American performance scene, while still being largely unknown in Europe. Over 1,000 scattered planks of wood in Act 2 – To Resist provide the shaky ground for a one-hour state of emergency. The vibrations generated by the unstable surface reinforce the trance-like resistance displayed by the five dancers. They symbolise a new form of living together, liberated from superordinate authorities. The tense atmosphere drawing the audience in becomes ever more charged over the course of the performance.

To Resist is the middle part of Tamara Cubas’ Anthropophagic Trilogy, which examines three choreographic works from Brazil, the origin of the cultural anthropophagic movement established in the 1920s in answer to the European culture of dominance. To Resist is intended as an act of resistance against the commercialisation of our emotions and bodies but also against the institutionalisation and hierarchisation of human relationships.

Choreographer and visual artist Philipp Gehmacher has joined forces with pianist and performer Marino Formenti for the first time to celebrate the reopening of TQW. They share an inclination and a curiosity for dispensing with hierarchies, for subverting the conventions of watching and listening in their respective trades. It all starts with fundamental questions: “…turning a verbal statement into song, to singing together, how is that supposed to work? The voice as a gesture behind the mic? Possibly some sort of stand-up, almost like spoken word, maybe…and here and there a song in between, this tiny capsule of a narrative.” (Philipp Gehmacher) It is also “the projecting of musical thoughts onto other levels, because the music just isn’t a product of sound. Instead, it’s causing the air – which itself has consequences and suffers consequences – to vibrate.” (Marino Formenti) Everything is still possible as yet. A process – a unique encounter with an open end.