Berlin: Presentations of Joanna Leśnierowskas blur performed by Aleksandra Borys

As part of the SBNT on Tour Joanna Leśnierowska will present her piece blur performed by Aleksandra Borys. The performance will be presented three times at Berlin?s DOCK11 Studios  (Kastanienallee 79) on 21, 22 and 23 September at 7 am. The presentations are made possible thanks to the support of the Polish Institute in Berlin.

Although the principle of ?blur? was introduced into the tradition of European painting as early as  da Vinci?s sfumato-technique, it was however only after Gerhard Richter (in whose work the phenomenon of out-of-focus and hazy images took such a dominant role) that the blurred surface became one of central motives in both figurative and abstract paintings as well as photography and post-photography of nowadays. Artists employ the means of blurring intentionally, in different combinations, and following different conceptual and technical strategies. Blurred surfaces, dissolving contours, hazy appearances, indistinct motifs in a state between apparition and dissolution, chaotic accumulation and constant overdose of equally important and unimportant details, dispersed visions and meanings, and aspects of color and composition brought to the fore ? with all this in mind, we entered the stage to examine possibility of ?blurring? in the context of body and choreography.

The research for the solo has been developed with an input by artists of different disciplines. Together, they have searched for translation of  ?blur? into all levels of a stage performance. Within the scope of their work, ?blurring? was understood literally ? as something ?out-of shape? or ?unable to keep one shape/form,? but first of all metaphorically ? as a visual and physical representation of an emotional and mental state in which we are being deprived of previously recognized and generally accepted point(s) of reference, and, both on a micro and macro level, constantly exposed to fragmented reality made of data of all sorts: bits and scratches of images, sounds and (post) information sunk in noise and echoes of ideas and ideologies.

blur is another chapter of Exercises in Looking ? a practice of perceiving and thinking with images initiated with the trio ?(rooms by the sea) (2014). Stemming from my interest in contemporary painting and (post) photography, it?s inspired by its theory and artistic strategies, and examines a possibility of restitution of the gaze in the context of the stage.   

Information about tickets:dock11-berlin.de

About the artists:

Joanna Leśnierowska ?  since 2003, and parallel to her work as dance writer and curator, Joanna has developed an independent practice as dramaturge and performance maker and often also lighting designer for her own works and works of other Polish and international artists. A holder of an MA in theatre studies ( Jagiellonian University in Cracow) she was one of the first professional dance writers for leading Polish theatre journals, while also publishing on Polish dance abroad and lecturing at the universities of Poznan and Cracow. In 2004 she created first the first regular dance space/choreographic development center in Poland, operating within the framework of the Art Stations Foundation in Poznań (www.artstationsfoundation5050.com) where she continuously supports the development of Polish dance artists.

In 2003-2009 Joanna co-created Towarzystwo Gimnastyczne (performance collective and association) within which she conceived and performed 3 full-lengthworks: ?whatever you wish? (2003) ?Foreignlanguages-ness? (2005) and ?NOTHING? (2007). She worked with Arkadi Zaides, Lia Haraki, Márta Ladjánszki, Jurij Konjar, Janusz Orlik, Renata Piotrowska and Maria Stokłosa a.o. In 2011 she created her first auteur performance, ?Reconstruction?. In 2013 she worked with Janusz Orlik on ?Insight?, which was awarded the Best Choreography prize at the Polish Dance Platform in 2014. In January 2014 she premiered her trio  ?…(rooms by the sea). From the series Exercises in Looking?. In 20015/2016 she conceived and ran an exchange The Yanka Rudzka Project between Polish and Salvador (Brasil) dance communities. Following artistic ideas of the recently discovered Polish choreographer, it brought together dancers/choreographers into creative dialogue fuelled by the traditional culture/dances of both countries. One of main outcomes of the project was the premiere of a group choreography ?Semente?  at VIVADANÇA festival in Salvador (April 2016). 

Aleksandra Borys is anart and science artist working in thefields of art, choreography, video, installations, photography, walking art, ecology, astronomy, anatomy, and space science. She is a graduate of MA Art and Science at Central Saint Martins- University of the Arts in London and BA Dance/Performer Codarts ? University of Arts in Rotterdam, Holland. Since 2014 she has been exploring the relations of the human body, Earth and Universe on the scientific and cultural level. She works with video art that portraits the embodiment of events and theories (her works in this respect include short films: ?9,81* states of attempts ?2015, ?Selfportret? 2013, ?Unisono? 2013). Combining a choreographic approach to create installations that offer physical experience of connectivity, cause and effect relation, and bring out the physicality of scientific concepts (?SpaceSnake? 2016, ?Movementscape? 2015, ?Air Mapping? 2013, ?A2C+CA2+C2A? 2012). Her choreographic works orbit around movement research,  physical possibilities and functionality of the human body in various environments offering kinetic experience ( ?Unisono?2013, ?bezsens- an action painting?2012, ?Double-re-act? 2010; ?Lost in Details? 2010, with which she was invited to Jardin prix d?europe 2011 as one of 15 emerging choreographers during the eXplore festival in Bucharest, chosen for the Aerowaves Priority List 2012, and as a one of 12 works for Polish Dance Platform 2012). In 2015 she received the Research Scholarship from Grazyna Kulczyk for art and science research; she also received a grant ?Mloda Polska 2014? for her research on walking art, and was a scholar in residenceof the SPAZIO program in 2013-2014, scholar of DanceWeb in 2011 at the ImPulsTanz Festival in Vienna, scholar of Tour d?Europe des Chorégraphes in 2010/2011, and a recipient of theScholarship of the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in 2010.

Michiel Keuper graduated in fashion design from ArtEz the Institute of the Arts in Arnhem (NL). With his fashion label Keupr/van Bentm he presented his collections during Paris Fashion Week for several years and his work was covered internationally in numerous publications. His autonomous fashion work has been included in museum collections and has been exhibited in the USA, UK, Japan, Italy and France. Alongside working as a freelance designer, he has been teaching fashion design at BA and MA courses in the Netherlands and Germany and since last year also in Poznan?s School of Form. Lately he has extended his work to fine arts, performance and art direction. Recently he has worked with Meg Stuart, Peter Pleyer, Julian Weber, Jess Curtis and Claire Cunningham, Lea Moro, Martin Nachbar, Antonija Livingstone, Sheena McGrandles, Jeremy Wade, Miguel Gutierrez, Hana Lee Erdman.