"La Strada" 2012
(Comments © by "LaStrada, Graz")
"l´effet sphére"
compagnie des quidams - (fr)
Huge women carrying an unknown burden. A small man, jealously watching over a grey terrestrial globe: a sumptuous play with mythical images and magical light is what participants in this magical journey can expect. At the end of this special street show, there is a joyous act of liberation. Beforehand the actors will beckon to join the boisterous procession, offering aural and visual delights for people of all ages. At the same time it is a visually striking ecological metaphor. An altogether planetary spectacle.
"hek"
de stijle, want - (nl)
It is easy to hate grill barriers. They are always in the way. But grill barriers could be a place to sleep, a gym machine, a musical instrument and even a roof; you just have to tackle it in the right way - and this is what those two men dressed in orange are doing. And what they are doing with the grill is hilarious, since the artists are playing with the steel frame and the audience at the same time. Know anywhere better fenced off? Certainly not!
"loin / lontano"
les clandestines - (fr)
What is it that can make people leave everything behind and decamp to another country? How should we deal with today´s burning questions of exile and immigration? Les Clandestines´ captivating female performers explore old and new Italian songs in search of the fault lines in the traditional and the modern, illustrating through melodies, poems, letters and historical documents what people´s homeland means to them. In preceding workshops the theme of migration will be examined and tailored to the situation in Styria.
"streetwalker gallery"
kud ljud - (slo/at)
Everyday urban ingredients transform into objects of art as a curator takes this urban gallery´s visitors on a guided tour. On show are sculptures and paintings, interactive installations and performance art. Pretty soon the audience is no longer sure; is that portly old gentleman taking his dog for a walk over there a chance passer-by or a performance artist? Or both? The borders between fiction and reality suddenly become permeable, and the city becomes an entire work of art in this ready-made gallery, which plays around not only with our view of the city but also with contemporary art and the ways in which it is usually perceived.
"harmonic fields"
pierre sauvageot / lieux publics cie - (fr)
Others conduct an orchestra. Pierre Sauvageot conducts the wind. This trained jazz musician who at one time staged the legendary "Babel.Platz.Symphonie" with more than 100 musicians on Freiheitsplatz square in Graz, has this time selected Graz people´s bestloved trip destination, constructing his "Harmonic Fields" on the summit of the Schöckl mountain. This unusual project features an enchanting mix of spectacular landscape art and auditory experience. Here Sauvageot combines wind harps and glockenspiels, singing bowls, drums, cellos, Balinese flutes and even a Klapotetz bird-scarer among hundreds of fascinating instruments in whose strings, tubes and membranes the wind explores its playground. Yet the sounds are not simply down to chance; Sauvageot ensures that there is an ingenious balance of sound and structure. "It´s important to me that there are not just strange noises circulating around here" he says. The musical experience with the spirits sent by Aeolus god of wind ultimately also arises as a result of visitors´ individual reactions as they pass through the installation. Indeed this performance by the wind sometimes ends with a delicate coda, sometimes with a triumphal whilst also somewhat dissonant finale - it´s entirely dependent on wind and weather. A magical installation that oscillates in the summit´s air currents.
"le carrousel des moutons"
d´irque & fien - (be)
What if a concert grand suddenly raises itself on its only hind leg during a concert: can this be seen as a protest against the female pianist? Not at all, if Dirk and Fien are in the party: the concert grand turns into an acrobat, when both of them start up their merry-go-round of sheep. They play music and balancing, it is a real pleasure to watch; things and people sail through the air because, in this wonderfully burlesque show, it is not only our imagination that rises high. It is indeed the piano that establishes itself as a third team-mate in a performance that is brimming with music, dance and acrobatics. Juggling sheep and a trapeze act on a broom: in Dirk´s and Fien´s wonderland everything is possible. Both Flemish performers have successfully worked as solo artists for quite some time. Under the supervision of long-standing Graz favourite Leandre, a joint play has been developed for the first time, which will have both young and old in awe across the world.
"les ravouilleurs"
jo bithume - (fr)
A circus orchestra abandons its familiar place of work to enter the arena of the greatest circus in the world: the street. And since life is full of unique occasions, the sound of the six musicians also remains without precedent or exemplar. An improv show en passant; at every step, new impressions are included in the musical event, bicycle and door bells, the squeaking of a happy baby and the sound of a tram braking.
"far west 2037"
jo bithume - (fr)
The not so distant future. Guided by a visionary architect, a handful of men and women are building the town of their dreams. On a decommissioned oil platform in a forgotten corner of the world they are creating their Utopia, in which water, energy and refuse are generated and disposed of in an altogether original cycle, in which every inhabitant can make optimum use of his or her capabilities and everything coexists in the most wonderful harmony. However, after 17 joyous years, new immigrants come aboard the utopian town - and that changes things somewhat. Surviving in the face of ecological threat, people conquering new territory, striving to adjust to new circumstances, seeking tolerance and acceptance in one´s dealings with others: "Far West 2037" has a wealth of themes. Moreover it conveys a wealth of visual impressions, with the Reininghaus site becoming an ocean, in which a fourteen metre tall offshore platform lies at anchor. On this impressive structure around 20 actors, acrobats, musicians and technicians perform a show that brings to life a highly pictorial and poignant vision of the future. Human beings as the unpredictable factor in an otherwise altogether perfect do-it-yourself paradise. Scarcely anyone could make such a magnificent job of it as that team now so well known to Graz, namely Compagnie Jo Bithume, who are incidentally this year celebrating the 30th anniversary of their coming together.
All pictures were made by "Martin Hauer (www.foto-hauer.at)" and are licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at license(at)foto-hauer.at.