VIBRANT VOID by Claudia Lomoschitz
“When I think of death, I think of nothingness, because I grew up under capitalism – only recently I found out that nothingness doesn't exist.”
Claudia Lomoschitz's performance Vibrant Void is approaching the vibrating matter of the vacuum and its connection to death. The performers explore ghostly matter, shades of perception, vanishing qualities and darkness permeated by polyphonic flickering and deep silence. By approaching the matter of bodies on a molecular level, millions of interconnected cells appear, oscillating in everlasting sound. The electrically charged void within each atom is vibrationally entangled with the void in outer space.
Can the void be explored as vibrant matter? How do thoughts of the afterlife reshape lived reality? In which ways does capitalism deploy the fear of death?
Quantum physicist Karen Barad states, that the void is not empty, but rather inhabited by virtual particles shifting between being and non-being. Particles no longer take space in the void, they are constitutively entangled with it, like bodies are entangled with their surroundings, even beyond death. Vibrant Void looks at void as transcendent and transformative matter, exploring the interconnectedness of end and endlessness, matter and non-matter, Euclidean space of the black box and the vastness outer space.
Capitalist attempts to avoid death cumulate to everlasting health paradigms and plastic chirurgical infinite youth. Even death is expensive – insurance companies advertise to plan ahead of death, by freezing deceased bodies, promising eternal life. Instead of attempting to control the future, Vibrant Void connects with the density of the past to sense movements, feelings, stories and memories that reverberate today.
CREDITS
Concept and Performance Claudia Lomoschitz
Performer Liv Schellander, Elena Riener, Ursula Lücke, Ekke Hekles Light design Sveta Schwin
Sound and composition Crystal Wall
Voice Contribution Alex Franz Zehetbauer
Costume design Mael Blau
Stage design Riin Maide
Dark drink Julischka Stengele
Video documentataion Vik Bayer
Photos Moritz Franz Zangl
A co-production by SOAKED and brut Wien
With the kind support of the City of Vienna’s Department of Cultural Affairs, thanks to Bears in the Park