pirates of the caribbean | 2008

"Pirates of the Caribbean is what is left of a film once the actors, the film sets and all the images have been removed - A choreography of camera movements that navigate the depth of field."

Pirates of the Caribbean, proposes a spectacle with multiple persepctives : On a square stage, framed by the public who are seated in rows on all four sides, 3 performers, one empty slide and 11 different sized aluminium frames are activated. The first part the choreography presents a mobile configuration of moving frames and formats. These are set in motion by the three performers, which execute well studied camera movements, hijacked from existing movies.

The films are literally transposed onto the stage, robbed of their images, but still attached to their soundtracks (allowing the spectators to refer to the original films). Pirates of the Caribbean mercilessly throws both actor and image overboard in order to focus on what remains: an empty frame (camera) and a void surface (projection screen). Two sides of a same interface and two coinciding outlines converging into one single object.

The second part of the performance presents an architectural structure in motion, in which the materials used during the first section become building blocks for a mobile and ever changing visual display. The public is invited to watch this section with an eye patch covering one eye - a wink to the Pirates of the Caribbean of the title, but also a way to create an optical flattening of the 'depth of field' of the stage.

Orientation on the one side and disorientation on the other, the performance is conceived as a space for visual reflections and entertaining visions.


'Pirates of the Caribbean' was developed during several residencies in different arts centers including Nadine (Brussels), TNT (Bordeaux) and the Vooruit (Gent). The first part of the piece was presented as an installation during the Courtisane Festival in the Vooruit in April, and during the process became an independent piece called 'The Nickelodeon'. The Nickelodeon is currently being developed further and will be presented as part of a showcase of projects at workspace Brussels at the Kaaistudios (Brussels) in November.

Due to major production changes the original project, 'Pirates of the Carribbean', is on hold for the moment. However, on request, and with full financial and technical support, the piece can be finalized with another working phase of 3-4 weeks.





concept :
C&H
performance :
Heike Langsdorf, Christophe Meierhans, Christoph Ragg, Ula Sickle
production :
frogs OS, Kunst/Werk
development :
Heike Langsdorf, Christophe Meierhans, Christoph Ragg, Ula Sickle
thanks to :
Yeti, Alexandra Fritz
support :
Nadine, TNT/Bordeaux, Workspace Brussels, Vooruit/Gent,