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METTE EDVARDSEN PRESENTS
HER NEW GROUP PIECE ‘OR ELSE NOBODY WILL KNOW’ IN KAAITHEATER (BRUSSELS)
by Jeroen Peeters
“A main focus in my
works till now is ‘there’ness and an emphasized interest in or attention to
presence and the present. Although the pieces seem to contemplate emptiness and
absence, this is only there as a consequence of the existence of something
else. I want to draw attention to little things, to other things, to
attentiveness as such. I am interested in how our perception works, to find
different ways of expanding our perceptive fields.
In a few lines, the Norwegian,
Brussels-based choreographer Mette Edvardsen introduces her body of work in the
programme sheet. What follows are some more reflections, clear and to the
point; yet her work can’t be wrapped up in a few lines, it has an irreducible
quality. The works’ hyperformulation, sense of detail and witty character make
them particular stage events, insist on the event’s particular character per
se: embedded in time and space, witnessed by embodied spectators, and so on.
But the conceptual resistance of Edvardsen’s new group piece or else nobody
will know shows itself as much in the sheer banality of narrative suspense:
it is in the scenario and the familiar quotidian action that Edvardsen seeks to
evoke the mysteries of perception. Yes, “the existence of something else”!
Moulding
Something else? As Edvardsen’s first group
piece or else nobody will know elaborates further upon her solo works,
it is worthwhile to go back in time a little. In her first work Private
collection (2002), Edvardsen arranges and manipulates objects in a small
space, as an installation that invites the eye to wander. More sculptural
tropes seemed to guide the work, such as the idea of ‘moulding’: a negative
space that witnesses a creation process as much as it casts potentiality.
Pointing at once to past, present and future, Private collection was a
mould in limbo, pointing toward the existence of something else, yet leaving
its secrets intact. A live performance not quite mirrored in a manipulated
video registration (something else!), Time will show (detail) (2004)
focussed more on the material conditions of the event, such as the surrounding
architecture (something else!), the entropic temporality of an irreversible
chain of actions (something else!) and the spectator’s embodied perception
(something else!). Add the evocative character of narrative (something else!)
and an inquiry into the semiotics of the theatre space (behind the curtain …
yet something else!) in Opening (2005–06), and we have a small
compendium of Edvardsen’s choreographic world.
Something else? It might be clear that the
work is not just the “consequence of the existence of something else”. Edvardsen
seeks to deconstruct our daily perceptions and uncover the spectral realm that
underpins it, haunts it, and endows it with a future. or else nobody will
know is a fine continuation of Edvardsen’s trajectory, a body of work that
deserves to be seen and known better.
Folding, unfolding
A table with a telephone, papers, a stapler
and a stack of plastic cups. A fluorescent lamp above, a chair behind, a
waste-paper basket next to it. As in an office space, be it that it only fills
up a small corner, that the floor is covered with dance floor and the space
delineated by black curtains – we are unmistakeably in a theatre. Five people
enter, take up positions in the space, pause for a moment, then for a few
minutes launch into an intricate scenario involving objects – such as keys,
slips of paper, envelopes, bags, a bonnet, a chair, a telephone – and actions –
such as drinking coffee, searching a bag, dropping keys, not answering the
telephone, spraying an olfactory mark on the backdrop, writing a note. The scenario
is executed with a strict timing, a sense for precision and detail; it suggests
clandestine activity, yet in the end it is perfectly meaningless on a narrative
level. The choreography wavers between stillness and a frenetic pace,
highlighting in a peculiar way gestures of waiting, attention, expectation,
address and transaction – all communicative actions with an uncertain
destination.
The five performers (Philippe Beloul,
Varinia Canto Vila, Mette Edvardsen, David Helbich and Kristine Øren) repeat this
scenario no less than eight times. Each time you discover new details, start
wondering whether they actually repeat the scenario or slightly alter it. The
complexity of the scenario puts visual perception and memory to a test, which
introduces a particular temporality. After half an hour the space has grown
thick with traces, with memories and projections, but leaving the scenario in
suspense. What are all these transactions about? What is all our witnessing
actually about? or else nobody will know seems to short-circuit our
expectations, leaving us with a set of holes and an awareness of our blind
spots. Then follow a black-out and a pause of twenty minutes.
Sweeping, spilling
Part two. Another scenario, which may have
happened before or after the other one. This time it is chopped up in five
solos which are put together in the end, revealing the actual chain of events.
With the superimposition of five solos the choreography falls into place, but
again: does it reveal anything? It is interesting how Edvardsen and co.
playfully literalise concepts in their solos. Edvardsen is sweeping the floor,
as if she were collecting traces from before the break. Beloul seats himself at
the desk and starts to fold papers, half-way through saying: “I don’t
remember.” Folding without unfolding. Canto Vila enters bathed in sweat and out
of breath – what happened during the break? And they are all busy with papers,
with producing notes, handing them out, tearing them up, spilling them onto the
floor or throwing them into the basket. In the last solo, Øren leaves the stage
and comes back with a pile of envelopes, and then with yet another pile when
they all repeat their solos.
Messages and slips of paper all over, two
piles of envelopes. From the installation to the scenario, from entropy to
memory, from the mould to the envelope, from witnessing to the potentiality of
unaddressed mail: or else nobody will know is like a series of messages
in a bottle. They are drifting in the theatre, waiting to arrive at uncertain
destinies, testifying again the existence of something else. or else nobody
will know does not so much embrace tautology as inquire into attention and
communication, unbridling doubt in the theatre and creating myriad potential
scenes of address.
_______________________
Further performances:
November 14 and 15, 2007 in Vooruit,
Gent (www.vooruit.be)
Info: www.metteedvardsen.be
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