Today, in the Anthropocene, there seems to be nothing left untouched by humans. Dwindling species, thawing permafrost, landscapes of toxic trash: human impact appears all-encompassing. But the reverse is also true: nothing we get in touch with leaves us unchanged. It is this mutual interaction Jasmin Hoffer and Oleg Soulimenko scrutinise in BEAUTY OF MESS, TRASH AND UNKNOWN DESIRES. They deal with the entanglements of human bodies and objects and with the vitality of matter.
Jasmin Hoffer and Oleg Soulimenko break out of the mundane approach to things. In their performance, everything can become matter, everything is constantly subject to change. Some things are fished from the trash, some are factory-fresh and some stem from the body as such. The performers build manifold relationships to these objects, sometimes distant, sometimes intimate – they perceive them not just as functional and subordinate, but as subjects themselves. They experiment with causalities, create rituals, put the objects in order and fantasise about a future in which the things we will leave behind will provide intelligence about what may have been the meaning of the human species.
Jasmin Hoffer and Oleg Soulimenko have been working together for a couple of years, creating performances in which they examine potential relationships between the human body and other forms of matter. Jasmin Hoffer is a dancer, choreographer and performance artist, who teaches contemporary dance. Oleg Soulimenko is a performance artist and choreographer. They both live and work in Vienna, and their performances have been presented at a variety of venues all over the world. Most recently, they showed their projects LOSS (2017) and SWIMMING POOL (2018) at brut.
“With great seriousness and in peaceful neighborhood they work on a poetry, which things seem to whisper to them. The camera is very close, revealing details and working out nuances. Until a surprisingly dramatic ending. Conclusion: an excellent work from the lockdown-shaken free scene." (Helmut Ploebst, Der Standard)
Concept, choreography, set and performance, video editing Jasmin Hoffer and Oleg Soulimenko Guest performance Marta Navaridas Artistic Consultation, stage design, set, camera and video editing Alfredo Barsuglia Dramatic advisor Claudia Bosse Sound advice, camera Samuel Schaab Light design Sveta Schwin Costume Larissa Kramarek, Nina Samadi Outside Eye Esther Vörösmarty, Lise Lendais Video editing Elena Tikhonova A co-production by Vienna Magic and brut Wien Thanks to Rosemarie Poiarkov, Magdalena Chowaniec, Nicola Schößler, Dario Stefanek and ttp WUK
With kind support of the City of Vienna’s Department of Cultural Affairs
accessible
Nordwestbahnstraße 8-10, 1200 Vienna
Subway: U1, U2 (Praterstern), U4 (Friedensbrücke), U6 (Dresdnerstraße) Tram: 5 (Nordwestbahnstraße) Bus: 5A (Wasnergasse)
not accessible
Zieglergasse 25, 1070 Wien
Subway: U3 (Zieglergasse), Tram: 49 (Westbahnstraße / Zieglergasse)
Eschenbachgasse 11 / Ecke Getreidemarkt, 1010 Vienna
U-Bahn: U4, U1 (Karlsplatz), Tram: 1, 2, D, 71 (Burgring), Bus: 57A (Getreidemarkt)