IVANA MULLER (HR/FR): POSITIONS

19. 9. ● 20:00h ● 67 min ● &TD big hall

In Positions Ivana Müller works with the concept of “economy” and its different versions: economy of movement, economy of identity, economy of emotion, economy of theatre,  using assets that define our social identity, our civil status, our class position and our life style as a currency. A “capital” that is there at the beginning of the show, a “potential”, or a “destiny” that each of the performers possesses gets exchanged, traded, bargained, fructified and capitalized on through an obscure practice that resembles a “black-market”. What in the beginning looks almost like a children’s game develops into an imaginative and emotional journey based on the idea of “exchange” that offers a complex reflection on the idea and place of value and representation of the same. In this playful and somewhat existential performance, Müller builds a quirky economics lesson, a board game which reflects the instability of our subjective constructions.

www.ivanamuller.com  

Ivana Muller, Positions

Ivana Muller, Positions

INTERVIEW

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR „POSITIONS“ TO A RANDOM PASSER-BY?

I don’t think I would even try to describe my shows to a random passerby. “Describe your show to a random passerby” sounds like “do it in a simple way, so that everybody gets it”… and that has something patronizing in it… as if the “passerby” is someone that needs instructions and I’m the one that has the answers. That is how people speak in politics… or on television, or in commercials. I think that the relationship between artist and spectators doesn’t work this way, especially not in theatre. It is not that I propose something and the spectator should «get it» this way or the other. We are basically doing it all together: the performers, the spectators, the technicians, the director, and the dramaturge… all of us on stage, backstage and in the audience. And I think that theatre (or any other art form) gets exciting when it offers a possibility for as many versions as there are spectators in the audience. We are all looking at the «same reality», we all make part of the same event, but we all see it slightly different. … and we don’t need to agree. In fact, it is even better if we don’t.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS FORM TO TALK ABOUT REALITY?

Language is something that I was using as a source in many of my pieces. Its structure, its potential to create movement, its limits, its potential to construct mentalities. In Positions we used a very basic structure of a sentence consisting of a «subject», a «verb» and an «object» to propose a reflection on the relativity of the idea of «value». The only verb we use is «to have», the subject changes during the show creating the movement from «I» to «we» and objects are at first abstract terms such as «love», «power» or «friend» but as soon as they get related to a certain person they start to change their context and in such a way their value as well. With this very minimalistic format we develop the whole piece, which formally functions like a game of poker but which constantly produces questions on the mechanisms of exchanges and property.

WHY SHOULD WE, AS AUDIENCE, CARE ABOUT WHAT YOU’RE DOING?

I think that spectators are essentially interested (or not) in the pieces already after reading the text in the program, or after reading about my work in general on internet, or they might be interested because they have seen my previous work or because it is performed at the festival or the venue that they like, in this case Ganz New Festival. Or because someone told them about it. This is generally why I get interested in somebody’s work as a spectator. Again, I don’t think that it should be me to tell the spectators why they should or should not come and see my work. They are smart enough to know that themselves☺.

IF YOU HAD ANY MEANS AVAILABLE (‘IDEAL WORLD SITUATION’) WHAT KIND OF PROJECT WOULD YOU DO?

Exactly those that I made.

WHAT THREE THINGS NEVER FAIL TO BRING YOU PLEASURE?

That really depends on the contexts. I don’t think there is anything that by definition “always” makes me happy…Anyway, I think that the economy of “happy” is rather tricky☺

Ivana Muller, Positions

Ivana Muller, Positions

BIOGRAPHY

Ivana Müller is a choreographer, artist and author of texts. Müller’s dance and theatre pieces, performances, installations, text works, video lectures, audio pieces, guided tours and web works deal with the idea of body and its representation, principles of self-invention, place of imaginary and imagination, notion of authorship and the relationship between performer and spectator. Although she creates through various forms, theatre remains the principle context in which she develops and presents her work. Her work has been presented and produced in some of the major theatre festivals/venues in Europe, USA and Asia over the last 12 years. In her practice she often collaborates with other artists/writers/theoreticians. In 2007 Müller received the Charlotte Koehler Prize from the Prins Bernhard Funds (NL) for her oeuvre, as well as the Impulse Festival & Goethe Institute Prize for her piece While We Were Holding It Together. Next to her artistic practice, Ivana Müller curates festivals and teaches as a guest lecturer (at, amongst others, Piet Zwart Institute Rotterdam, School For New Dance Development, Amsterdam, Institute For Applied Theatre Studies Giessen, Performance Studies – University of Hamburg, University of Paris etc.). Ivana Müller was born in Zagreb, she grew up in Croatia and in Amsterdam. She lives in Paris and works internationally.

Ivana Muller, Positions

Ivana Muller, Positions

CREDITS

Concept, direction and text: Ivana Müller in collaboration with performers: Jean-Baptiste Veyret Logerias, Anne Lenglet, Bahar Tamiz, Galaad Le Goaster & Matea Bilosnić, Snježana Drkulec, David Hyatt, Damir Bartol Indoš, Jelena Mesar, Hrvoje Perc, Nina Sabo, Jasna Žmak

Artistic advise: Sarah van Lamsweerde

Lighting design and technical direction: Martin Kaffarnik

Production: I’M’ COMPANY /Chloé Schmidt and Gerco de Vroeg

Coproduction: BUDA Arts Center Kortrijk (B) / Festival NEXT, Musée de la danse / Centre chorégraphique national de Rennes et de Bretagne, Point Ephémère (Paris), Ménagerie de verre, Paris, within the framework of Studiolabs, ARCADI/Hors Saison (Paris)

I’M’ COMPANY receives the support of DRAC ILE DE France l’Aide à la création 2013 This project is supported by APAP network and  L’Institut Français/ TRANSArte projects.

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