. Tony Orrico, Penwald: 4: unison symmetry standing (Dance Theater Workshop, New York, NY) 2010. Fot. Michael Hart
Harakiri Farmers collective is working on I wanna be someone great, their contribution to the international project Metamorphoses(2012-2014), supported by the European Commission in the framework of the Culture programme. The project is a joint initiative of three institutions: La Briqueterie/CDC du Val de Marne (France), Les Brigittines (Belgium) and the ZAMEK Culture Centre (Poland), and will bring to life international artistic productions (dance performances, video art, urban interventions, debates, workshops) discussing the metamorphosis of spiritual and religious power, labour and political power.
The project Metamorphoses will be realised between October 2012 and October 2014 and is organised around transnational artistic productions on the theme of metamorphosis of the spiritual and religious power, the labor and political power. All productions developed under the Metamorphoses project will be premiered in 2014 in Brussels in April, in Poznań in May and in Paris in June
Harakiri Farmers, I wanna be someone great:
When wondering where power, religion and work meet one realizes that all these elements can be found in the biography of Leni Riefenstahl. Riefenstahl was very controversial because of her relations with Nazis. It can be said that she helped them create the semi-religious ambience that the regime had. At the same time, up till today, she remains fascinating because of her creativity and novelty in the field of documentary movie making. She was a woman who was always ahead of her time, she was a woman that was extremely hard-working – her drive in itself is extremely interesting to investigate. It is a drive that underlies religion, power and work – drive to be the leader, to be the best, to be perfect. It is a drive that is still basic in our culture. Leni wanted to be someone great. We all do. And this is what can be disturbing. This is the ghost that lives in the spaces chosen for “Metamorphoses”. Our civilization was built on religion, power and labor which were very often exploited for individual interests. We seem to have changed, we did our best to undergo a process of metamorphosis and new character of Le Briquetterie and other locations in „Metamorphoses” project is a perfect proof of that. Yet the ghosts still seem to haunt us and we should face them.
In I wanna be someone great Leni Riefenstahl’s biography serves as a starting point to create a score in which the power/labor/religion complex of today is addressed – the issue of how we confront the past, try to remove old forms of oppression but at the same time how we create new ones. For instance, nazism in its historical form might be gone but what’s with the basic drive that gave life to it – the will to control, master and possess the reality? Is it also gone? Isn’t there still emotional Nazism present in our everyday life, like a ghost?
We still crave for directors. At the same time we all want to be big stars, we want to make the headlines. And we very often work ourselves to death trying to get there. The labor/power/religion complex has taken on a new form but it is still present and this presence is a focal point of the research into Leni Riefenstahl as an archetype of contemporary personality oriented towards glamor, success and leadership at all costs.
choreography: Dominika Knapik
dramaturgy: Wojtek Klimczyk
music: David Chazam
lights: Alice Dussart
dance: Helena Ganjalyan, Dominika Knapik, Dorota Wacek
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