the better life by niko hafkenscheid © isabelle pauwelyn
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THE BETTER LIFE
NIKO HAFKENSCHEID
Last updated : 24/04/2013PRINT THIS PAGEOutline
'The Better Life' investigates the places or moments where light design, music, sound and space meet. This research project wants to bring the peripheral elements of the performance arts together to see what they're really worth. 'The Better Life' wants to ask what happens when explicit central dramatic action is absent or is not the main point of attention.
There are a couple of key subjects during the research:
- Directness and presence of the peripheral elements (when they become performative as such). I would like to understand better what it means to be 'present' in a directional way with music and light in a space. The 'identity' of music, sound and light will be questioned as mere theatrical elements.
- Absence and the lack of presence (they become imminent and hidden). I would like to understand better how the peripheral elements can indirectly relate to their original place as 'accompanying' phenomena. The identity of their 'background' function will be questioned.
- “Memory and sharing”. I would like to understand better how a performer can share the space with his audience in a relationship towards the 'memory' of sounds and music. What does it mean to witness 'recordings' in a performance space? Can this be suggested by light too?
- The outside and togetherness. I would like to understand better what it means to transform the space by filling or emptying it intentionally. What are the consequences of the separation of space and music/sound/light? And what are the consequences of bringing them deliberately together?
- There are many more questions...
So.... What about light objects,...how do they relate to space and duration? Where do lyrics and songs bring us to? How do they relate to a presence on stage? What kinds of amplification can be used? What do colours in a light design exactly suggest?...
At the same time and meanwhile 'The Better Life' wants to guide us deliberately to a series of associations suggesting a couple of things that we -at times- think to be missing in this life, a desire for 'the better' in a metaphysical sense, something very typical of human beings. This counts as an underlying energy.
Credits
Concept: Niko Hafkenscheid
In collaboration with: Jan Maertens, Isabelle Pauwelyn
Music and sound: Niko Hafkenscheid
Supported by: De Vlaamse Gemeenschap, De Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommisie, Bains Connective, De Pianofabriek, workspacebrussels
Dates
02/11/2012 - 10/11/2012 / Rosas
07/04/2012 - 21/04/2012 / Rosas