Field stations, the listening posts of Western intelligence agencies, are shielded from public view. They are hidden in deserts and forests under gigantic white domes – visible monuments to invisible communication networks. Inspired by the former Cold War listening station of British and American intelligence services on Berlin’s Teufelsberg, SKILLS develops an acoustic choreography on stage that explores the tension between hearing, listening and eavesdropping.
A large number of microphone stands and plates amplified with contact microphones become sound generators, musical instruments and sculptures that are vaguely reminiscent of historical listening and communication technology. The acoustic amplification gives the objects a monstrous life of their own. A fictional space is created in which the stage and the “original location” overlap.
„This sound- and choreography-based work is inspired by the former field station Teufelsberg and brings recognizable atmospheric translation to the power of spy-technologies and its relation to fragile human physicality on stage.“ – Anna Semenova-Ganz TANZNETZ (17.06.2017)
“The most harmless objects, such as plates and music stands, suddenly turn out to be instruments.” – Kristof Schreuf, JUNGE WELT (17./18.06.2017)
„For Féher and Kretzschmar, it is less about powerful revelations and more about diffuse moods: on stage, they visualise feelings of unrest, rebellion, overwhelm and exhaustion in the face of constant media bombardment and scrutiny. […] The sound oscillates from subtle to explosive […] – Ute Thon, ART-MAGAZIN (15.06.2017)
“the performers have translated their research not into a documentary piece about NSA wiretapping facilities, but into a deliberately diffuse and elusive experimental arrangement about the role of different bodies and the possibility of placing them in a new context.” – Robert Matthies, taz (17.06. 2017)
Credits:
concept, choreography, music, performance: SKILLS (Camilla Milena Fehér & Sylvi Kretzschmar)
music, performance: Steve Heather, Hilary Jeffery, Veronika Zott
dramaturgical consultant: Igor Dobrocic, Elise von Bernstorff
sound engineering and musical collaboration: Peta Devlin
lights: Sebastian Zamponi
costumes: Nina Thorwart
artistic assistant: Nina Klöckner
head of production: ehrliche arbeit – freelance office for culture
coproduktion: SKILLS mit HAU Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin) und Kampnagel (Hamburg)
in cooperation with Tanzfabrik Berlin and Wiesen55 e.V.
funded by Hauptstadtkulturfonds Berlin and Ministry of Culture and Media of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.
photos: Dorothea Tuch
