konspiration | 2006
"Is a piece for an initiated audience."
Konspiration is one of a trio of pieces that deconstruct the ritual of theater going: After Cobaye vs Cobaye (2003), C+H choose to reevaluate their approach to making performances. Dividing the theatrical event into a before, during and after, they decided to give the respective spaces - theater lobby, stage and bar, equal importance. This division and subsequent research led to the pieces Prelude ‘A’ (2004), Bühnenstück (2005) and Konspiration (2006).
Konspiration attempts to use plotting as a means to hijack the audiences perception and their perspective of observation. The piece is made of two distinct parts: an informative lecture and a performance.
The lecture takes place the evening of the performance, in a theater venue while the real performance happens the following day in a café. The lecture prepares the audience to become the spectators of next day's performance, while the venue and its patrons are not in any manner informed about the event. Only the people assisting to the first part of Konspiration know the exact time and place of the second part. Only those taking part in the conspiracy share the common knowledge that allows them to see that something is actually taking place beyond the usual events in the chosen location.
The information held by the audience thus forms the background for which the performance is to be seen. The everyday activity of the café is the surface on which it is projected. Both actors and spectators enter the café alone or in small groups, behaving as normal clients, according to the agreed rules of Konspiration. Any signs of foreknowledge or group behavior are to be avoided.
Konspiration, the work, also served as base for several workshops held by C&H within different contexts. Up until now a public workshop took place in Bytom, Poland, in the frame of Elektropopklub (13-15, September 2005) and in Burghausen, Germany (29-31, July 2006) as part of the introductory events of the Festival Studium:Bühne (Oct/Nov 2006).
Tour
13-04-2005 Ausland / Berlin28-09-2006 Maus Habitos / Porto
19-10-2006 until 22/10/2006, Sophiensäle / Berlin TELLING TIME FESTIVAL
02-11-2006 Tanzzentrum / Burghausen STUDIUM BUEHNE FESTIVAL
01-03-2008 TNT / Bordeaux
concept/realisation :
C&H
lecture :
Heike Langsdorf, Christophe Meierhans, Christoph Ragg
performance :
Heike Langsdorf, Christophe Meierhans, Christoph Ragg
co-production :
Sophiensäle Berlin, frogs OS, Kunst/Werk
support :
Ausland/Berlin, Nadine, Maus Habitos/Porto
thanks to :
Anna Rispoli