maProject Vilnius 2009

maProject PERFORMANCE photogallery

2009-09-29T01:12:00.001-07:00

GALLERY

week 06 - last week in Vilnius

2009-09-29T01:00:00.001-07:00

GALLERY

who am I today?

2009-09-14T06:32:00.000-07:00

Starting from the 16th of August (Sunday) the maProject people were involved in the inside photo documentation project, which aim was to capture an image of the day from the inside. One by one, each participant got a camera for a day. To keep the abstract relation between, before he/she saw a photo, which was taken the day before. The chain of people created a gallery which is still growing... until the maProject premiere.

GALLERY

week 05 - next week with maProject

2009-09-14T06:03:00.000-07:00

week 04 - in the Polish Culture Centre

2009-09-14T03:38:00.000-07:00

The fourth week of the project started with moving into new space of Polish Culture House which refers to the real size of the installation. We got huge studio, where we placed the dance floor in the size of 8x16m. All of us got overwhelmed with the amount of space and the common use of it, in opposition to previous studio Kristinoss, where we admired the privacy and cosiness. I say, the maProject is travelling on the map of Vilnius, aiming for its final destination on the 18th of September. Its also a new experience of the city, because the streets in the old city centre, full of bars, restaurants and shops, has changed into the neighbourhood of office buildings and living apartments.

The creative process went into the direction of placing existing scenes in space and time of the performance. Real size of the installation ground floor allows to develop the dramaturgy and to imagine the possibilities of playing with audience. Tuesday was a day of the first informal try out of the project. Choreography, music and video. For the first time we could see the images from the Dutch video artist. Morphing faces, details of breathing, gently moving bodies and maps. First time we could try, play, change and put together all this elements.

It was hard working week. Focus, concentration, repetitions, detailed working process and in the same time lots of satisfaction of the slowly coming image of the performance.

photogallery link

catch the poster in the city

2009-09-14T03:30:00.001-07:00

flowering creation - weEk 03 - further on conceptual

2009-09-03T12:23:00.000-07:00

The concept of morphing and maps was influenced with the subjects of lectures from the first week. Development went towards the image of common dance from the movie “Salto” by Tadeusz Konwicki (Witold Mrożek lecture) and the issue of sexual politics, as the most confronting for the participants of the project as well as probably for the coming audience.

“Salto” presents a common dance in ballroom hall, which seems to be a previous synagogue and belongs to all the people leaving in a small village. The characters join the dance with or without their own choice. Mostly influenced by a stranger, a conductor, who is coming to their life one day from nowhere. The dance reminds a zombi ritual with square, regular movement.

The story of the Babel tower from the Bible (Genesis 11) represents an opposite process of solidarity and disorder. Referring to our time, when use of the languages, as well as other communicative paths bring people together towards one language we are looking for communication within different nations, mother languages or cultural background.
Nine sentences of the biblical text where divided between national groups of maProject dancers in their mother language. Two Dutch got phrases 7 and 8, five Lithuanians – 3 and 6, four Polish – 4 and 9, German – 2 and Portuguese – 5. Each of them translated the meaning in gestures and built a sentence of movements. Later they taught their phrases to each other, adding them one to another and creating a tower of movement “language”.

Bible Genesis 11 The Tower of Babel 1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. 3 They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." 5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." 8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel — because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

Further on we took a look on traditional background from individual perspective. Everyone brought with him something which resembles his identity. Who remembers the oranges which were a symbol of health in communistic time in East European countries? Referring to that time orange was a random food, symbolic exchange of goods coming from the West to the East.

Morphing portraits refers to the process of constant changes within genres, traditions, cultures, nature, etc. Morphing put in opposition to a-morphing gets a relation to maps with foggy image, DNA or cells. For practical level – metaphorical and conceptual – what is the map of life? We approach the body to map the emotions. Reading the inside to poor it out, express. Processing the emotions form neutral to spastic.

Mapping the body got an assistant – a ball, which is travelling from the center/core through the whole body. The task was to establish the rout for example from the shoulder to the toe.

On Tuesday and Thursday afternoon we shared one studio and exchange the results of the work.

GALLERY

educational exchange - weEk 02 - who are we?

2009-09-03T11:31:00.000-07:00

How do I play my instrument?
How do I play my body?
How do we communicate with each other with sound and movement?

The second week brought dancers and musicians to an open dialog and educational exchange. Improvisation of sounds, voices and movement was the tool to introduce the language of each participant. Each musician presented his instrument. The studio was filled in with sounds of drums, accordion, clarinet, vibraphone, double bass, guitar and three charming voices of Bulgarian singers. The dancers got a feeling of sounds, its dimension and amplitude. The musicians had a chance (for some of them for the first time) to relate to the movements and communicate to the bodies in motion. All practice was moderated in different combination of solos, duets or trios in the interaction with instrument to embody the colours of the sounds, exploring the instrument. How the mirroring, continuing or opposing works in relation to the sound and instrument? Where can you stretch the relationship which you establish with the musician?

Sound and movement. What is the sound of movement? Dancers had a task to accompany their movement with the sounds using voice or body rhythms and opposite the sound was translated into the motion. Next task was to bring and interact the sounds from outside (city sounds) with the body and express inside voices out.

The collages from the workshops with Joost turned into the linear maps, which were used further to explore and practice the movement composition. With extra layer of qualities, referring to natural structures (going through oil - thin; through the mad - thick, through the pile of stones - broken, and through electric wire - shivering) they got extra qualities and essence.

In the same week musicians, using another space, could try to create and practise transparent sounds, low tones, one pitch sound, one common rhythm, braking it down and coming back to it from one note.

Friday we all came together for jam session. The idea was to try different intruments with created dance phrases, which was the first moment of composition for the maProject.
The second week left good vibe of exchange, getting to know each other and finding out the direction of the coming process. It was the first time when we shared our passion and skills.

Introduction. Exchange. Education.

photoalbum link

workshop with Joost van Veen

2009-08-20T02:23:00.000-07:00

The second week started with workshops by Joost van Veen, who introduced himself by screening his own work and also other movies, which were influential and significant for his artistic development. Joost camera follows the objects and gives them live and motion. He is using 8mm film camera, which he finds the most interesting for his imaginary world.
Second day of workshop was dedicated to practical and creative actions. Each of the participants brought to Vilnius couple of objects from his homeland. There were postcards, keys, maps, passports, agendas, bags, fan and more other staff which people identify with. All of them were copied on regular paper, which later on was used for creating collages in duets. Out of this work came out original maps of identities.
See the photos: workshop action and collages.
Filmprogramme of Joost workshops.

lectures - photo IMPression

2009-08-16T12:38:00.000-07:00

Hans Timmermann Witold Mrożek Arturas Tereskinas

First week of the project brought lots of discussions and presentations. Each of the lecturers focused on the role of the artists in the society in relation to the place we are living, carried memories, perception of society and social gender. Second part of the lectures was dedicated to research and practical tasks which were presented by participants in forms of speech or short performance.
Link the photo albums with the images.

first DAY meeting

2009-08-10T06:48:00.000-07:00

On the 6th of September all the artists met together to get to know each other and initiate the creative process of putting all elements of the project together. Choreographers, video maker, composer, architects, light designer and scenographer, as well as project coordinator visited the Art Academy were soon the installation will be build. So far the model became the main point of focus and moved the imagination of all. Statement, questions, answers and silence... between some clicks of photo camera...

Lectures

2009-08-10T06:01:00.000-07:00

The maProject starts with three days of lectures:

12th September _ Wednesday _ Hans Timmerman
Geography and storytelling (on maps and art)

13th September _ Thursday _ Witold Mrożek
A Rite of Memory. Swapped Identities and Confusing Spaces

14th September _ Friday _ Arturas Tereskinas
In the Ghetto of Gender and Sexual Identities: Practices of Difference in the Enlarged Europe

read more HERE

Video Maps Impressions _ Joost

2009-08-10T05:52:00.000-07:00

Abstract #1 from Joost van Veen on Vimeo.

Abstract #2 from Joost van Veen on Vimeo.

abstract #3 from Joost van Veen on Vimeo.

Maps fast #1 from Joost van Veen on Vimeo.

Map_ Smoke #1 from Joost van Veen on Vimeo.

Kalydoscoop #1 from Joost van Veen on Vimeo.

Maps fast #2 from Joost van Veen on Vimeo.

Leading Artists - Tutors

2009-08-10T05:06:00.000-07:00

Liat Magnezy_ choreographer_Israel/Netherlands
Agnija Šeiko_choreographer_Lithuania
Konrad Szymański_assistant/choreographer_Poland/Netherlands

Joost Van Veen_video artist_Netherlands
Petar Doundakov_composer_Bulgaria

Hans Timmerman_dramaturge & lecturer_Netherlands

Aistė Anaitė_costume designer_Lithuania
Jurgis Malinauskas_scenographer_Lithuania
Saulius Valius_architect_Lithuania
Simonas Liūga_architect_Lithuania

Agnė Vasiliauskaitė_coordinator_Lithuania
Laura Zabulytė_assistant_Lithuania

read biographies HERE

Brainstorming Images

2009-08-10T02:19:00.000-07:00

Before Vilnius became the heart of the project, the tutors followed couple of meetings in Schiedam (Holland) to brainstorm ideas and content of the project. Thoughts were thrown into words and captured on paper. The result is presented here in pdf file to your view.