Performer and choreographer Philipp Gehmacher ventures into the realm of visual art, asking: Where do the things of the world come from? And how can we grasp them?
English language
Talk following the performance on Sun 25/09, 17.00
Philipp Gehmacher is one of the most important figures in the contemporary European performance scene. His choreographies are set in the domain between performance and exhibition, repeatedly questioning the materiality of bodies. He regularly deals with the ability and inability of bodies to communicate and their constitution in the modern world.
With specially developed sculptures, the Vienna-based artist is now making a foray into the exhibition space. Bodies have thus become objects, and once again he questions their state and their nature. The desire to make things speak “for themselves” is the focal point of “Die Dinge der Welt”, Gehmacher’s latest project, a work commissioned by steirischer herbst. The aim is to find and shape objects, to examine them for a possible “narrative”.
As a visual artist too, Philipp Gehmacher retains the subtle humour of his performances where he as a performer sets out to exhibit and portray his personal relationship to the world. In his exhibition at Haus der Architektur he will interact with new sculptures in specially developed performances, relating the artificial body to the artist’s body.
Concept, object und performance Philipp Gehmacher
Artistic collaboration Astrid K. Wagner
Composition and sound Gérald Kurdian
Costume Johannes Schweiger
Documentation Eva Würdinger
Production Stephanie Leonhardt
Commissioned by steirischer herbst
Production Philipp Gehmacher / mumbling fish
Co-produced by steirischer herbst, Tanzquartier Wien
In cooperation with Haus der Architektur
With the support of MA 7 – Kulturabteilung der Stadt Wien
steirischer herbst
Dramaturgy Martin Baasch
Head of Project Management Dominik Jutz
Project Management Marcel Masten
Technical Direction Karl Masten
Philipp Gehmacher (AT)
Philipp Gehmacher, born in Vienna in 1975, is a choreographer and dancer. From 1993 to 1999 he studied at the London Contemporary Dance School and the Laban Dance Centre, where he conceptualised his first choreographic works. In 2001 Gehmacher opened Tanzquartier Wien with his duet good enough, presenting his first full-length group piece ”mountains are mountains” two years later. His first cooperation with US choreographer Meg Stuart – ”Maybe Forever” (2007) – was shown at more than forty international festivals and received the Special Award from the BITEF festival in Belgrade. The same year Gehmacher commenced his collaboration with Russian artist Vladimir Miller, giving rise to ”dead reckoning” (2009) and ”in their name” (2010) performed at steirischer herbst, among other productions. Like ”in their name”, Gehmacher’s latest piece ”Die Dinge der Welt” is also set to première at steirischer herbst.
