zondag 9 juli 2017

Performance meet Q

Review Quartair

It’s been a while since we passed by the artist-space “Quartair” in the Hague, in fact quite a while –  our ‘Halitosis Convention’ was in August 2001, the ‘between two chairs’ presentation in September 2003... so it was great to see the place still alive and kicking (we had missed the 25year-aniverary bash the month before, but were trying to make good) ...
Chance conspired to get us there just at a moment when a few friends involved with various performance groupings & platforms converged for a international meet – so right down our alley. (The Hague’s own PerformanceSite (P.S.) and ...PAS (performance art studies) and International Performance Association (IPA).... 
Not so much has changed in Quartair itself, tidied up, reconfiguration of space to give more practical areas, but the general feel of the main space is the same and the cozy BBQ corner out front is still as popular as always... 
So we felt immediately in our element/home.. meeting some long lost friends and more recent acquaintances, chatting and updating our lives... but not to dwell on that here, where the activities at hand are described... Part of a weeklong series of workshops and performances, we could only view friday evening, missing the ‘holaa opeing’ since we were late... so, fragmentary as it is, here a short report:











Just in time to see Yvette Teeuwen in action, using but her (wrapped) body language and voice, running a series of possible emotions and situations, using mainly the viewer’s imagination to create the images, mostly recognizable situations without real cause or slightly astray from the usual, one recognizes and immediately doubts – thus setting us off footing and becoming participants in a sort of dance – or theatre moment – for one has the impression the sounds, breathing, gestures are from a classic background – but at the same time fresh and surprising enough to have the effect of a sudden encounter... good stuff – the use of a prop near the end, as sort of tiara worn/unworn to some effect on the facial expression was perhaps unnecessary, since the strength of the performer/body alone would have been enough to carry the whole...



Next was a piece by Sarah Atzori, musical chars as it were, children’s seats strung with string and plucked by a harpist and fed through a computerized bank of modulators and DJ material... perhaps better in a more closed/studio environment, since the visitors milling about were not quiet enough to really appreciate the sounds... or more ‘playful’ raunchy destructive as kids are (and it seems a lot of her other work) - while on the other hand I couldn’t help remembering various similar constructions, often more elaborate and intriguing, from the sixties, seventies, eighties... etc... so, on the whole a less impact, also because 17 years of alternative radio programming sort of jaded me to rediscoveries....














Heekyung Riu on the other hand did achieve a well proportioned presentation of what might be termed a classic – figure in bag / see-through plastic – also a blast from the past when plastic was a new material... and bag-pieces from Ono onwards... but she managed to give it all an own aesthetic slant, combining self-isolation, self-adulation (selfie & cream) as well as participation, holding corners, and exhaustion, standing sculpture upside down for ever so long... she managed to keep the public quiet and curious for the duration, so that is a good point to make. 







Duo presentation Leva Savickaité & Jürgen Fritz was an interesting proposition: separated ensemble as it were, on either side of a sheet, she proceeded to light candlesticks with her mouth, he inserted a tuning harp in his... she proceeded to lie down an pull the candlestick across her body which became naked, he breathed all the more heavy and rhythmic to the tunes of whatever emerged from the tuning harp, sometimes bluesy, sometime rock ‘n rolly or such, and coming to a crescendo climax type moment which could well have been a good end to this rather curious piece... but it went on with another demonstration of oral prowess by lighting a whole box of fireside matchsticks to then insert them into a trunk with a hole in... hmm... as said, could have been a separate piece, didn’t quite know what to do with it here... but the basic set up of a seperate duo-combination was good and worked well without the appendix.
























Larysa Bauge did a disturbing small but weighty piece. Quiet, standing still as innocent as can be, only noticing a curled up belt in her hand after a bit. After another bit it comes loose, unfurls as it were, begins dangling and the danger becomes slightly apparent... she moves forward unnoticed – the dangling becomes wavy, slightly menacing, foreboding, becoming frightening / frightened... not sure which... strains of a children’s musical box, making things more ominous... the belt stars swaying, higher and higher, whipping against the light fixtures, expecting to crack... snap snap, in the minds eye shut tight, no scream or wail but it’s there somewhere... home truths, traumatic memories, therapeutic exorcism, - we’re left to figure it out for ourselves as she puts down the little music box and leaves... strong and slight... it worked.



Ah, as finale of the evening something more fun & spectacular – TV based comedy moment under the parasol sipping chardonnay... Teddy May de Kock immersed herself into a certain personage from ‘the bold and the beautiful’ and reenacts various versions, dubbed and gaudy... good fun while at the same time a frightful mirror of our insatiable appetite for frivolous bullshit consolidating questionable role models... a preposterous form of social criticism having the effect of court jester, behind the laugh a niggling insight that pinches... on the surface slapstick pantomime, and who knows, maybe  society is no more than that...though slapstick ends up being broken bones and blood on the carpet mostly. But is it performance? The theatrical elements dominate, and so maybe it should be disqualified from the series? On the other hand any format is OK...

Depends on definitions – the guiding theme was a research into poetics of performance, and as such some did better than others, some specific work developed, some versions of set pieces perhaps... 


A continuous piece was developing all during the evening, which, sadly we did not take time to participate in, but which did engage curiosity... Joie de Wolf set up office just behind the entrance with a “Mythological Institute” section named ‘Department Self Exploration and World Arrangement’... and used questionnaires and a technique of instant revealing invisible drawings it seems, using UV light while-u-wait, or rather participate... (the old architectural plan print process I presume)
(seemed to me a bit like a persiflage of the BIWA, but probably no connection) - and a lot of these things take shape subconsciously, ‘in the air’ so to speak... danger is to wave things aside if they seem to similar to something already known... alas, we’re not in a position to say more about the project and will have to await results on the website concerned...

Obviously would have liked to see all the offerings over the weekend, but not possible – in any case this small visit did give an inkling of the quality and engagement displayed here – openness and willingness to try out things – giving one the feeling of being part of a creative process... good marks all around, the criticisms are but small annotations to what essentially was very good.











Hmmm dinner disaster - installation to be ate...
not sure who's responsible for this one, yummy
tho not many takers...
(the eyes have it)