„Rehearsing Peace“ is a performance project in which the performer wants to create a contemporary Peace ritual being influenced by the presence of the audience. While engaging in the research and trying to create peace by performance, the mind is stepping in and all the hubris, privileges and doubts manifest. How much of a thinking effort does it need to create peace, how is the body related? Both the performer and the audience get involved by collecting thoughts and commentaries on their visions of a peaceful live, all written on tiny paper coils that become part of the choreographic process, rustling and ripping. The material collected at one place will serve as a base for the next show somewhere else, the piece is supposed to travel to different spots.
is the result of an artistic research process on Syrian memories from before and beyond the war. How to deal with this amount of destruction on stage? The performers provide choreographic snippets ranging from anger to powerlessness. How can war war be displayed by someone who is not involved? How can we reflect on stage the things we get told by media? The „results“ of this Sisyphian Task are shared are with the audience. The main part of the piece consists of the ritualized arrangement of the written memories discovered during the process. The spectators need to move through the space in order to read the different fragments of thoughts and records and doing that, they themselves become a part of the choreography.
For the exhibit „true or false (250/x)“ the performer is confronted with the verdict of his audience: The spectators are asked to sit directly opposite to create a face-to-face-situation. They can force him into taking on several emotional states at the push of a button. Afterwards they can asses his credibility. How many „truthful“ emotions can be measured?
(role: performing and providing conceptual input ; initiator: Nathalie Dickscheid)
is a round dance on the striving for peace and solidarity that stands behind the European idea. Six young Europeans dance their hearts out - and in again. The rhythm of the daily routine comes upon a vigorous performance with choreographic associations on what it means, to live in Europe. The piece was shown at Lichthof Theater Hamburg and got completed with a second part thats been shown at Theaterdiscounter Berlin. (role: performer; chroeographer: Marc Carrera)
A concert hall, a bunch of musicians, violins, cellos, a choir and a drum set. Suddenly everything changes. A troublemaker is entering the stage, the audience is confronted with his military rumbling. After that, a rich and vain bourgeois is following him. Finally, the tender beauty is trying to settle. Nobody can let go of the tension. The battle gets unavoidable. The three of them start to argue - a rhythmic, harmonic and melodic fight about what matters in music. (role: actor, director: Marie-Luise Jauch)
is using Berthold Brechts model text on how to stage his piece „mother courage and her children“ as a script itself. Those instrcutions had been developed to provide a concrete vision on how war is to be covered on stage. The performers make use of the text by challenging the audiences moral in bringing up issues about the „pleasant“ representation of war in nowadays. "Should we change the skript?" (role: concept, director and performer)
What makes an artistic process fruitful? Working as a dramaturg, it is my responsibility to ask this question over and over again. By creating ideas, providing input on contemporary discourses and giving feedbacks, I keep the staging process vivid and add a personal touch to the pieces without making them mine. It is this balance between expressing personal taste and pointing out structural or formal gaps that characterizes my work. I developed this way of digging further into the directors proposal by asking allegedly "neutral" questions in an almost Socratic manner. This allows them to either reinforce their inicial idea or find alternative approaches. I don't want to make them "aware" of something - the dialogue is what matters.
I also direct myself. I combine installation art with choreographic works. Every work is based on a subtle process of research. I like to meet people, to interview them and to gain knowledge that I can transform into some kind of artistic reflection. The topics I chose usually are based on humanism and peace issues. I start with a formal idea and a thematic interest. Most likely, both of those elements don’t fit together immediately. Thus, a creative tension creates a completely new work.
There is such a fine line between producing art and performing the process of investigating for scientific purposes. While conducting scientific experiments can be considered a performative act itself, creating a work of art can also deliver important informations. I am deeply convinced on the power of sensual experiences. The engine of a societys forecome are emotions. Yet, emotions are nurtured by knowledge. With my work, I want to make this mutual feedback visible and provide acces to its benefits. Hence, the process of artistic research is a chance to implement those intentions.