Piece

Three apparently motionless bodies are lying on blue ground. In (b)reaching stillness standstill is regarded as a continuous change and investigated on its physical potential. The starting point are Baroque still life paintings – not only due to their obvious element of immobilisation  but mainly due to their ability of „vitalization“ of dead or inanimate motifs. Glamorous climaxes emerge out of a monochrome surface before collapsing once again. Throughout the piece a cyclical dynamic is developed, which cannot be affected by any arising moment of drama or opulence. Constant decay and reshaping, imperturbable chance, blossoming, sinking down and rising up again. On stage dynamic standstill and different forms of resurrection appear together. On an acoustic level Gustav Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony (1894), seems to be an opposition; in its dramatic and lush form it elude any kind of immobilization. However, for (b)reaching stillness the motif of resurrection – freed from its religious attributions – becomes a vital principle within ordinary getting up, synchronous revue or simple repetition. 

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Costume

In (b)reaching stillness it was important to us to create a duality in the appearances of the performers, as in baroque still-life painting, where life and death, blossoming and withering, movement and stillness are simultaneously present. In this respect, the naked, individual upper-body, in which one sees the finest movements; the skin, hair, nipples and muscles, contrasts with the fully clothed legs. I chose a matte-black stretch denim for the pants wanting to emphasize the artificiality of the legs through the unity of the fabric. Black knee socks and patent leather shoes indicate additionally the transience of the surfaces.