Graphic design: Diego Agulló.
The Regional Choreographic Biennale ?RE//Dance? in Bucharest will feature a presentation of Mothers of Steel by the Polish choreographer Agata Siniarska, co-created with the Romanian artist Mădălina Dan. The six days long pilot edition of the Biennale will include presentations of innovative pieces and performances from Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania and Hungary. The Biennale will be accompanied by round table debates and discussions on contemporary dance in Central and Eastern Europe. The programme was co-created by all partners in the initiative. The Biennale?s curator is Iulia Popovici, who has been supported in her efforts by Marta Keil and Goran Injac.
The presentation of Mothers of Steel will take place on 5 November (7:30 pm). The following day (5 pm) Agata Siniarska will give a performative lecture.
Mother of Steel will have two repeat performances in Romania (8 November, 9 pm: Cluj-Napoca, Temps d?Images Festival; and on 13 November at 7:30 pm at the National Contemporary Dance Centre in Bucharest, as part of the Amprenta Project). The Bulgarian presentation will take place on 17 November at the ACT Independent Theatre Festival in Sofia.
Temps d?Imagew Cluj-Napoca website: http://www.tempsdimages.ro/ro/
ACT Independent Theatre Festival 2016 (Sofia) website: http://actfest.org/en/
About the piece (from the artists):
Imagine the near future devoid of all humanisty, and the sole fully existing entities are two artificial intelligences ? Fembot A.E. and Omnipresence. They are made of steel ? They are Mothers of Steel. Altering historical facts with future narratives, they travel back and forth in time with the help of human genetics and impersonations from origins to ends, from wires to flesh, from data to memory, from face to interface. Mourning emotional identification with their long-gone countries Poland and Romania, they proclaim a state of their own. A state where territories and female powers are boundless.
This project is a weeping practice in a performative situation ? an investigation into the phenomenology of tears that touches upon many themes ? memory, history, death, happiness, fragility, innocence, strength, futuristic ontologies, etc. It questions the social and cultural mechanisms related to public and private display of emotions. Contrasting personal statements with iconic scenes of crying in Eastern European context, it examines how emotions are manifested in different situations, and why we (or we do not) express them publicly.
Within the narratives concerning our bio-politics ? cultural/national/emotional identities ? the project approaches today?s post-bodies/technological paradigms in an attempt to entangle the personal with the artificial.
idea and performance: Mădălina Dan, Agata Siniarska
dramaturgy: Mila Pavicevic, Siegmar Zacharias
sound, video, graphic design: Diego Agulló
production: Art Stations Foundation by Grażyna Kulczyk
coproduction:
Theatrical Confrontations (Lublin)
Fabrik Potsdam
Alfred ve dvoře (Praga)
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About the choreographic biennale in Bucharest
Throughout this fortnightly meeting, we are going to tell, and listen to, stories: stories of corporeal ephemerality, of the birth of contemporary choreography, of dance collectives and solo performers, of public space and performing space, of contemporary dance in the context of performers and audiences. This will be a biennale during which we will experience the choreography of community, says Iulia Popovici.
The pilot edition of the event is organised by the National Centre for Dance in Bucharest (CNDB), and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute?s East European Performing Arts Platform programme (EEPAP). Institutional partner: Mladinsko Gledališče Ljubljana (Slovenia). Venue: National Contemporary Dance Centre, ?Stere Popescu? Hall
More information about the Bucharest Biennale and its programme:
http://culture.pl/pl/wydarzenie/spektakl-agaty-sinarskiej-w-bukareszcie
