After the first week of intense work in the 5 groups, the “Common Stage” participants had to hold a presentation with their research intermediate results. The time of talking was over and action was required. It was the first time that all participants saw the work of the other groups and how the various disciplines are interacting.

Also the form of presentating differed and inclueded dancing, walking around, slide show material, video scenes and self composed music.

The following 2 weeks will show how reality-proof and doable the concepts are in terms of time, effort and collaboration. The temporary concept descriptions give a hint that the level of anticipation is high in every group.

Welcome back to happy humanity! by ‘PeaNutButter CATs’

Can we create happiness? This key question drives our group through the project. We are interested in exploring the different ways to creating “artificial happiness”. The group looked at the diverse aspects of what creates happiness on various levels. Such as: chemistry, psychology, society and biology. Therefore, we created an alter-ego PeaNutButteR CAT as a scientific research group that operates in a fictional world set in year 2114. The following is an advertisement text that describes PeaNutButteR CAT’s goal.

PeaNutButteR CAT is a research group working in the sanitary environment “H0m3”. In their latest creation, the mission is to try and explore the components of ARTificial HAPPIness and to test-drive the hypothesis that Happiness is a human-made thing and therefore can be created. PeaNutButteR CAT serves to educate and enrich the members of the public.

The format that we are going to employ is the use of installations. We will set up a lab where the audience plays the role of the test subjects. They will be able to move through different stations and experience how happiness can be created. Our goal as artist is to evoke happiness in our audience. We also want the audience to leave asking: “is it possible to create happiness in their life or is it a thing that might just happen? Is happiness a choice?”

Liè by ‘裂 liè’

Lie  –  the Chinese word stands for breaking up something into pieces. In the same time this action includes a rebirth. Clinking on fragments and details the moving installation shows the attempt of capturing the invisible into movements and objects.
In the research of happiness we are never able to store it, because at the moment of capturing it changes into something new. We want to show this vicious circle by telling a personal story of a Chinese opera actor.

Eastern tradition encounters a tragedy of modern life. As design, art education, theatre director and –Chinese Opera students we are producing a trans-medial and intercultural play. Between performing objects and living sculptures the visitor can discover different ways of construction and deconstruction of happiness.
The devil is in the detail – coming soon.

What remains by ‘touch?’

Besides topics like interhuman contact and our inevitably subjective perspective we are forced to live with in our bodily cage, our main theme centers on the experience of that fleeting moment of joy when happiness seems in close range. What will happen when the peak is reached? Will we be able to hold on to happiness or are we damned to run after our dreams in eternity? Our performance aims to reflect these aspects through various artistic perspectives.

Behind these walls… by ‘it’s kind of magic’

A chair, a mask, a cactus and a journey behind these walls. Small connections of home, innocence and imagination. Behind these walls acts with the urban environment of North Point and plays with the inside and outside, inside becomes outside and vice versa.

Video installation collaborates with performing arts, dance and acting in curated spaces and tell small connections about different stories behind these walls, about home. Through immersion, through different layers, through this journey and imagination we provoke to think about happiness and the ability of home.

Black Hole by ‘Black hole’

Our goal is to present you with a constructed realm where the line between reality and fantasy is blurred. The use of sound, lights, projections, performances and installation will deliberately change the definition of space. Before the audiences enter the “black hole”, held in the black box theater, they will be subjected to a screening by an African Bouncer at the door. This will be the final entry point between the ‘normal’ world and the world that you are about to enter. The series of installation and performance that follows arose from the words, “ space” and “mindset”.  These performances will extensively play with the concept of the paradoxical nature of multiple realities.
The black hole will also feature collaborations between Chinese opera and European music. This is our method of finding a common ground in this trans-cultural reality that currently consumes us. This is our way of capturing a moment in a foreign space.
We hope to engage the audiences into a meaningful dialogue of what reality or fantasy mean to them through our performance. In addition to that, we also want to provoke their thoughts and mindset by presenting them with a difficult and controlled setting.
you are here.
you are the centre of your universe.
you are your own reality.
but what is reality?
you think
you remember
you forget
you think
this is your default setting