VOLUME (2019)
In Volume, performers Jasmin Hoffer, Sara Lanner and Liv Schellander explore the oral as a complex ensemble of organs and a multi-functional space. Both physically and performatively, they approach the oral space as a zone of encounter informed by reception, transformation and ejection.
Multiple mouths are open, they are filled and stuffed, they articulate or move, they transform material and manipulate other bodies – the only thing they never are is shut. The social convention of keeping one’s mouth shut in public is reversed in Volume. The three performers investigate which mouth positions are socially accepted and which are taboo. What happens when the mouth becomes not just the basis for but the protagonist of all kinds of actions, relationships and observations?
Volume – in terms of both mass and sound – is a matter of space and its occupation or else its refusal in the sense of withdrawing to an interior space. Thus, the volume inside mouth, body and space is key in power relationships and relationships in general. They acquire space, visibility and attention using the oral cavity, its negative imprints and outward explorations.
In Volume, the mouth is investigated as a threshold, a delimiting organ, rendering it a theatre in itself, where choreographies between the performers develop in collaboration and in ever-changing constellations. What or who is inside or outside when and how?
After showing an earlier stage of Volume as part of the Handle with Care series in January of 2018, Jasmin Hoffer, Sara Lanner and Liv Schellander’s piece premiered at the 2019 imagetanz festival.
Read reflections about Volume by Marcus Fisch and Dorothea Zeyringer: https://brut-wien.at/en/Magazine/Letters-for-later/Sara-Lanner-Jasmin-Hoffer-Liv-Schellander-Volume
Concept, devising, performance Jasmin Hoffer, Sara Lanner, Liv Schellander Dramaturgic advice Gabrielle Cram Space concept Maria Grün & Dorothea Trappel Feedback Deborah Hazler Light Lucas Gruber Sound Billy Roisz Costumes Lise Lendais, Daniel Nasr Flyer Ani Antonova Photography Raffaela Bielesch Video Eva Würdinger & Markus Gradwohl A co-production by Living Examples with imagetanz/brut Wien. With the kind support of the City of Vienna’s Department of Cultural Affairs, nadaLokal and Studio Matsune.
“Once again, a hollow body part’s stage potential is revealed, and unexpected anatomical virtuosity ensues... the three performers have an almost animalistic way of using their faces as hands, their teeth becoming as agile as fingers, completely committed to exploring this one orifice with compelling concentration. They manage to bring a delectable sense of curiosity to their work, balancing an almost clinical dramaturgy with drool-worthy creativity and wit.” (Claire Levéfre for Springback Magazine)
