Paradox and Parallels is a new series of performances curated by Gretchen Blegen. From October to December the project presents four inter-media performance pieces in the Berlin project space Ausland.
The pieces presented explore the changing relationship between that which is heard and that which is seen putting into question the concept of work in the frame of interdisciplinary, collaboratively based performance art.
The central theme is the relationship of the process of development to its outcome: the presentation for or with the public. Will the work be questioned on the basis of Benjamin, becoming the death mask of it’s conception – or does the spirit of creative processes linger on within it as an autonomous taker, beyond the dichotomy of “completion” vs. “work in progress?”As a contradictory figure, it appears in and throughout Paradox & Parallels in various phases: the four dates unfold this contention successively under the leitmotifs non-production (“towards another miraculous”), reproducibility (“out of now”), reduction (“[…,] and “cross-pollination”) and concludes with a first time collaboration from an artistic duo (“PRESENCE/s”).
In the first evening Ausland presents “Towards Another Miraculous” from Frank Willens and Maria Scaroni.
A work based on non-production. Day and night, Frank Willens and Maria Scaroni walked through Berlin eventually resulting in a performance on the outer boarders of a theater piece or rather, in a borderline production. Freed from that which often weighs down a showing, they invite people to take part and from nothingness, they bring a collective piece on the stage or space. Every time, the piece will be different – novel and unpredictable. Light, body movement, sound, language, the everyday and that which is sought after are all contributions in a piece mirroring the last performance piece from Bas Jan Ader’s “In Search of the Miraculous.” More to say would be unjust to the concept. After successful implementations in HAU, Theater Freiburg and in Estonia – every time a premiere of it’s own so-to-say – another miraculous is to be experienced in the humble abode of ausland.
“Towards Another Miraculous” from Frank Willens and Maria Scaroni
Sunday, 11st October 2015 | Doors 20:30 CET | Start 21:00 CET
ausland | lychener straße 60 | 10437 Berlin
