Re-enchantment: Spiritus
by Lisen Pousette and Olivia Rivière
Angewandte Interdisciplinary Lab
Spiritus is a work engaging with ideas of ‘resonance’,
where resonance is understood as an acoustic phenomenon as well as something describing a relationship. In the performance,
the choreographers and dancers Olivia Rivière and Lisen Pousette enter un-set performative situations with body and voice
that oscillates, stay responsive and spin off of eachother.
Their practices of resonance originate
from whatever voices; the small cries, wet, dry, high pitched forms of ‘screams’ and melodies. While exploring the specific
timbre and force, the sounds invoke a variety of textures and gestalts. Spiritus is a play with this as the work taps into
the word’s meanings and derivations: breathing, mood, geist as well as alcohol and intoxication.
In Spiritus, states
of listening, observing and responding are practiced through their sensing selves. They therefore invite the audience to listen
to the subtle nuances in their song, the small exchanges, those that we rarely notice, even though they are so crucial in
the approach of a discernible change.
By and with: Olivia Rivière and Lisen Pousette
Music and sound design:
Kristian Alexander
Light scenography: Anna Moderato
Dramaturgy: Ida Larsen
Costume: Olivia Rivière and Lisen
Pousette
Lights: Olivia Rivière and Lisen Pousette in conversation with Erik Molberg Hansen
Technician: Mali Dönmez
Photo: Kristian Alexander
The performance series ‘Re-enchantment’ signifies a re-enchantment of the world, a
search for the forces within the body, for synergies between forms of life, for trance and intoxication as an alternative
to the materialistic and algorithmically influenced present.
Following Silvia Federici Re-enchantment represents also
a search for communal forms of property and social forms of organization that emancipate themselves from exploitative ideologies
and technologies. Conversely, Max Weber used the term ‘disenchantment’ to describe a state of historical loss stemming from
reductive and exploitative ideologies and technologies, and collapsing into a peculiarly modern form of intellectualized despair.
The performances by Magdalena Forster and Milena Georgieva and by Lisen Pousette and Olivia Rivière bring to life the narrative
of the historical loss of this ‘disenchantment of the world’ as described by Max Weber: as a kind of archaic revival that
undermines positivist knowledge systems, instead following networked and spiritual understandings of the world. They shake
up the ruthless forgetting and sing (re-chant) about what is supposedly lost or hidden. The voice – as part of the body –
becomes an instrument of resistance; their dissonances challenge rationality; their vibrations invite you to perceive the
present not in an alienated way, but collectively.
For Magdalena Forster and Milena Georgieva, the alga Porphyra, which
the two artists produce themselves, serves as a metaphor for a sentient organ that explores the environment and creates connections
between diverse life forms. In Spiritus, Lisen Pousette and Olivia Rivière explore ideas of ‘resonance’, where resonance is
understood both as an acoustic phenomenon and as something that describes a relationship. Their practices of resonance have
their origins in the voice; as they explore dissonant sound frequencies with their bodies, evoking a variety of textures and
forms, spaces of intimacy and emotional connection emerge.
More Dates:
10 Apr, 20:00
Magdalena Forster and
Milena Georgieva: Porphyra
(Free entry)
Curation: Lewon Heublein
Concept: Elisabeth Falkensteiner (AIL)
