iDANS 05: “At Work”

iDANS 05: “At Work”

(30 September-23 October 2011)

 The 5th edition of the iDANS Festival will encompass diverse expressions of contemporary art, dance, theatre, music, performance art –emphasizing their commonalities in respect to performativity and corporeality– and will take place at multiple venues in Istanbul between September 30^th and October 23rd 2011. The event will continue in the next season in Berlin with a special international program entitled “biDANS: Guest Works in Berlin”.

Organized and presented by Bimeras each year around a curatorial theme, the conceptual framework of the 2011 edition of iDANS is determined as “At Work”. The program will feature discussions, staged performances, public space interventions and workshops as well as informal meetings in order to interrogate, to what extent each step in realizing a contemporary performing arts work can be considered as “work”; how the notion of “immaterial labour” as the predominant mode of production in current economies is reflected in the conception, implementation and organization of artistic processes; and how artistic labour contributes to and transforms creativity-centred economic and symbolic production.

In contemporary “creative capitalism”, we see the emergence of a new type of worker. Similar to a dancer, the “new worker” is expected to be endowed with mental mobility, agility, adaptability, flexibility, and playfulness and should continuously be engaged in the production, circulation, and distribution of images, ideas, affects, codes, sensations and gestures.

How does contemporary art work? What works? What kind of a “job” is art? Can we consider the new worker as an artist and the artist as a worker?  Has the incitement to creativity become an instrument of exploitation in the contemporary organization of production in general? What are the potential roles that remain for creativity for the development of human agency and emancipation?

iDANS 05 brings together once more in Istanbul some of the most challenging artists from all over the world to address these questions.

An Overview of the Festival Program

The festival program includes some 25 events that include live performances, iDANS’s own co-productions, specially created performances, film screenings, and talks. Besides of these, iDANS 05 also hosts two training and capacity development programs. Below is an overview of the entire program.

Training and Capacity Development Programs

Europe in Motion

iDANS 05 hosts between September 30^th – October 10^th  the travelling international development program for upcoming choreographers “Europe in Motion”, a project supported by the EU, initiated by Springdance (Utrecht, NL), and conjoined by three partners: Brut (Vienna, AT), Dance4 (Nottingham, UK) and iDANS (İstanbul).

Next to intensive dialogue and discussion sessions between mentors and peers, the participants will have the chance to develop “first propositions” and work-in-progresses relevant to the questions and concerns iDANS 05 raises to to be presented to an interested and engaged audience on October 9th in a marathon program between 14:30-19:30 to an interested and engaged audience.

The mentors/coaches for EIM in its Istanbul station are the renowned choreographers Jonathan Burrows and Mustafa Kaplan. The promising choreographers who are selected on a nomination basis by respective partners are determined as: Özlem Alkış, Ewa Bankowska, Clélia Colonna, Florentina Holzinger, Simone Kenyon, Sara Lindström, Ana Pi, Simon Tanguy, İlkay Türkoğlu, and Şebnem Yüksel.

 

Critical Endeavour Turkey

The international performing arts writing and journalism workshop Critical Endeavor, carried out in last year’s iDANS as a joint event of Jardin d’Europe, will again take place as a local edition in iDANS 05 with participants from Turkey. As an education and development program for those specializing in contemporary dance and performing arts journalism, Critical Endeavor aims to contribute to the development of a literary culture which confronts the challenges, responsibilities and inquiries of critical practices in the dance field. Critical Endeavor will consist of a series of seminars, panels and discussions and will take place between September 23rd – October 23rd. Contributions by participants can be followed at the festival blog www.idans.org

A Unique Social Creativity Project

iKEDİ

iKEDi was designed as a social creativity project parallel to iDANS in 2010. Continuing since March 2011 as a school project each month at designated public schools, iKEDi will once more navigate the streets of Istanbul and will gather together people around creativity in 28 different neighbourhoods.

Festival Highlights

 

The Craftsmen

Fase

The pioneer choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker had her unique stance on the world dance scene with her 1982 piece Fase. This work is set on the American minimalist composer Steve Reich’s composition consisting of four phases. Considered as one of the most significant works of dance history to date, Fase had heralded De Keersmaeker’s particular mathematical, precise and hypnotic style. Upon the international success of this work, De Keersmaeker founded her company Rosas. Fase, probably the most performed work among de Keersmaeker’s œuvre will be presented for the first time in Turkey. It will be a particularly fascinating experience to see De Keersmaeker dancing on stage!

Rosas/Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker – Fase | 30.09.2011 | Fulya Sanat | 20:30

 

Cheap Lecture and the Cow Piece

Contemporary dance followers of İstanbul will remember the witty duo from the second edition of iDANS.  Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion invite us once more to witness the unique way in which they rhyme and dance the story of their processes of creativity, creation, and collaboration.

Jonathan Burrows & Matteo Fargion – Cheap Lecture and the Cow Piece | 01.10.2011 | garajistanbul | 18:30

I am not me, the horse is not mine

The world-renowned animation artist William Kentridge portrays the story of the fragmentation of his artistic personality departing from the short story of Nikolai Gogol, The Nose. William Kentridge takes the stage with his engaging narrative, captivating animations and sincere performance.

William Kentridge – I am not me, the horse is not mine | 06.10.2011 | garajistanbul | 20:30

 

The Task

Eskiyeni

Mustafa Kaplan and Filiz Sızanlı, close collaborators since 1997, revisit, re-enact and re-interpret the history of their work. Their repertory and accumulated experiences of working together provide the reference point of this new work.

Taldans (Mustafa Kaplan & Filiz Sızanlı) – Eskiyeni | 01.10.2011 | MSGSÜ Bomonti Kampüsü Şebnem Selışık Aksan Sahnesi | 20:30

Allege

In Allege, Clément Layes, one of the most striking young choreographers of the European dance scene in 2011, wobbles a glass of water from the side of his head to his forehead in a very accomplished fashion! However, these impressive and unusual skills are more than circus tricks!

Clément Layes/Public in Private – Allege | 19.10.2011 | MSGSÜ Bomonti Kampüsü Şebnem Selışık Aksan Sahnesi | 20:30

The Invisible Work(er)

If a window would open

With If a window would open, the Portuguese director Tiago Rodrigues, presented for the first time in Turkey, refracts several windows and makes us rethink the refractive work of a media worker on linguistic, theatrical and affective registers.

Tiago Rodrigues/Mundo Perfeito – If a window would open | 02/03.10.2011 | garajistanbul | 20:30

 

ÇOK

ÇOK is a meditation on a question (“How many bodies can a body embody?”) narrated through personal reflections of dancers, choreographers and visual artists from Istanbul. Like a contemporary novelist Orhon embodies their voices, their gestures, attitudes and what is inexpressible about them.

Ayşe Orhon – ÇOK | 08.10.2011 | garajistanbul |20:30 (Performance in English) | 09.10.2011 | garajistanbul |20:30 (Turkish performance)

 

Eionometry

The recipient of last year’s Prix Jardin d’Europe Award within iDANS the E.I.O collective is back in the festival with the premiere of their new production. The collective continues their research about the contemporary value of art and the status of artists as workers.

Maria Baroncea, Dragana Bulut, Eduard Gabia –  Eionometry | 17.10.2011 | garajistanbul | 20:30

Guintche

The young Lisbon-based dancer and choreographer Marlene Monteiro Freitas improves a layered performance in which the laborer, exotic, attractive, dancer body gives more than what is demanded of and exhausts everyone along with itself, in a Josephine Bakerian attitude.

Marlene Monteiro Freitas – Guintche | 18.10.2011 | MSGSÜ Bomonti Kampüsü Şebnem Selışık Aksan Sahnesi | 20:30

Street Vendors

Dance for Sale

To what extent can artists and their work be considered as objects of immediate consumption? If so, what shall be the current market price of dance? In this simply set up yet intuitive public space performance, Grupo Oito interrogates the dynamics of artistic consuption and appreciation offering their technically able bodies for sale.

Grupo Oito – Dance for Sale | 14/15/16.10.2011 | Kadıköy Meydanı/Sultanahmet Meydanı/Bebek Park | 11:00 , 15:00, 18:00

Free Sessions

Two excellent dancers who had worked previously in Wim Vandekeybus’ company Ultima Vez prove that they are also meticulous workers as choreographers. In the public space/site specific version of their “mystic ballet” they invite the public to share the making of this unique language.

Thomas Steyaert and Raul Maia – Free Sessions | 18/19.10.2011 | Beşiktaş Meydanı | 11:00 , 13:00, 17:00

 

Inhabitants

Inhabitant is a public space project that looks at spaces, specifically inner city spaces, and shows how they are more than they seem; a doorway becomes a home merely through the occupation of space.

Sello Pesa and Vaughn Sadie– Inhabitants | 19/20.10.2011 | Various Locations | 18:30

Around the Table

Conceived and developed by the French choreographer Loïc Touzé and pedagogue Anne Kerzerho and realized by a network of local artists, Around the Table provides a platform for dialogue and reciprocity in the exchange of knowledge about the body by bringing together people from different occupations.

Loïc Touzé, Anne Kerzerho et. al. – Around the Table | 22.10.2011 | Location will be released on October 15th| 17:00

The Show Must Go on at iDANS!

The Show Must Go On

One of the most important masters in contemporary choreography, Jérôme Bel’s The Show Must Go On, premiered in 2001, will be re-interpreted by all-local stage crew as part of 5th iDANS Festival. The work is among the most unmissable performances in iDANS Festival with its dances and dancers as well as its conceptual proposals.

Jérôme Bel – The Show Must Go On | 22/23.10.2011 | Fulya Sanat | 20:30

Future Prospects

 

biDANS: “Guest Works” in Berlin

Under the rubric of the general curatorial theme and research of iDANS in 2011, Bimeras is going to launch a sub-section of the festival in Berlin for the special occasion of the 50^th year of the “Guest Worker Pact” between Germany and Turkey. With its international artistic and discursive program, the festival is going to address the changing notions of work, creativity, “innovation” and productivity; issues pertaining to work-related mobility and immigration; transformed temporalities of production and the blurring of life and work through precarious labour relations that in turn introduce new forms of alienation and suffering on top of existing problems of integration and xenophobia. To what extent can a stranger be accommodated as a guest, and when and under what conditions does hospitality turn into hostility? To what extent is such a shift fuelled by changing modes of production that privilege symbolic and cultural capital and capacities on the part of “workers” instead of the old school definitions of and dependencies on “manual labour”?

Ticket Information:

All festival tickets are on sale at garajistanbul box office.

All tickets can also be purchased at Biletix (except for those of Fulya Sanat).

For the performances at Fulya Sanat, tickets can also be purchased at Fulya Sanat box office and at fulyasanat.org

Only the remaining tickets of that evening’s performance will be sold at MSGSU Bomonti.

         

Bimeras

Bimeras was founded as the culmination of a decade of research and effort in order to support and promote international collaborations in the field of contemporary dance and performance. The most desired result of this effort was the establishment of an international contemporary dance festival in 2006. Aiming to contribute to the perception of dance as a legitimate artistic and theoretical field, iDANS International Contemporary Dance and Performance Festival brings together the most challenging artists of the scene in Istanbul. Bimeras is a partner of three major European Networks: Jardin d’Europe, DÉPARTS, and Europe in Motion.

 

iDANS International Contemporary Dance and Performance Festival

iDANS is the first and only international transdisciplinary festival that encompasses visual and live arts in Turkey. It is organized annually by Bimeras. Each edition is framed around a curatorial concept and hosts around 40 projects of visual arts, staged performances, lecture/performances and performative installations as well as symposiums and publications around the selected theme.

iDANS Festival, Executive and Artistic Coordinator, and Chair of Board of Directors of Bimeras: Aydın Silier

iDANS Festival, Director of Programming and Research: Gurur Ertem

PR Contact: pr@bimeras.org