DasArts / Master of Theatre

The thematic block commenced on 16 September 2002 and ended on 22 November 2002
The semester commended on 1 September 2002 and ended on 28 February 2003

Mentor

Dirk Groeneveld (NL)

Locations

• Cloisters, Ruud II, Glasshouse, Garageboxes, Containerhuis van Atelier van Lieshout on the DasArts premises, Westergasfabriek, Amsterdam
• Studio Zoutkeetsgracht 114, Amsterdam

Activities

• Alexander Technnique training
• lectures and discussions, workshops and research, video-viewings, rethoric- and communication-trainings, choir trainings, collective lunches, performances
• group presentation in Open Lab 106,
• twelve individual presentations in Open Lab 107
• DasArts Dialogues in De Balie
• interfacultaire themamiddag in Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Arnhem

Visits to

• FLEE-LAND, introduction week on Vlieland
• Bibliotheca Hermetica, Bloemstraat, Amsterdam
• performance ‘Laika’ van T.A.F.K.A.S., [NES] Theaters, Amsterdam
• performance ‘Taal Zonder Mij’ van Nienke Rooijakkers, Theater Kikker, Utrecht
• performance ‘Biokhraphia’, decor by Ali Cherri, Rotterdamse Schouwburg
• city walk and visit to Verzetsmuseum, Amsterdam
• conference and lectures ‘Vague, Volatile, Incomprehensible’ organised by Center for Drama Art, Zagreb
• voorstellingen ‘Trafik’ by Eurodance, ‘Man.Chair’ by BaDco., ‘Rocking’ by Indos/Omerzo/Matula, Zagreb

Guest teachers

Ken Campbell (GB), Herbert Cybulska (D), Stephan van Dijk (NL), Christiaan Hamaker (NL), Guenther Heeg (D), Elisabeth Kohlhaas (D), Rieks Swarte (NL) Erik Temmerman (B), Jalal Toufic (LB), Fiona Templeton (GB)

Participants

Guy Amitai (IL), Petra Ardai (NL/H), Lise Brenner (USA), Ali Cherri (LB), Djibril Diallo (SN), Saskia Meulendijks (NL), Ghani Minne (NL) , Dafna Moscati (IL/I), Roy Peters (NL), Nienke Rooijakkers (NL), Isabel Schroeder (D), Cecilia Vallejos (E)

Content of Block 17

In 1596, Matteo Ricci taught the Chinese how to build a ‘Memory Palace’. He told them that the size of the palace would depend on how much they wanted to remember: the most ambitious construction would consist of several hundred buildings of all shapes and sizes. "The more there are, the better it will be," said Ricci, though he added that one did not have to build on a grandiose scale right away. One could create modest palaces, or one could build less dramatic structures such as a temple compound, a cluster of government offices, a public hostel, or a merchants’ meeting lodge. If one wished to begin on a smaller scale, one could erect a simple reception hall, a pavilion or a studio. And if one wanted an intimate space, one could use just the corner of a pavilion, or an altar in a temple, or even such a homely object as a wardrobe or a divan. In summarizing this memory system, he explained that these palaces, pavilions and divans were mental structures to be kept in one’s head, not solid objects to be literally constructed out of ‘real’ materials.

The concept of this block was to retrace and activate the forgotten art of memory and to create a palace together with the participants that consists of individual spaces, but by its interlinking design could also be represented as a coherent mental and architectural structure. The gradual expansion and ‘building’of this palace was developed in the following manner: the training of the participants in the art of memory as a tool to organize the theatrical mind. The main interest and most important aspect of this research was to make a connection between the very private ‘search-machines’ of individual minds and their spatial and visual representations in the domain of an artificial environment. The fundamental idea, therefore, was to investigate theatrical forms of representation, connecting the participants’ contemporary thoughts and approaches with historical attempts at theatrical forms, philosophical views and questions of timing, venues, lighting and text.

Overview of Block 17

WEEK 1: 16 - 20 September

Assignment for FLEE-LAND:
• Make a reconstruction of the groundplan of your childhood city or village from memory. Choose a route, or daily walk concentrated on the area with the clearest memories. You are not allowed to make notes or make drawings.

• You will test out (walk) this personal groundplan on a vast, empty terraine. You can each start from a different point in space or work in any direction you prefer. You will have to concentrate on your kinestetic memory and landmark your route with poles. The groundplan-walk should not be interfered with by others. You must try to retrace in memory the speficic houses, streets, buildings, trees in this groundplan. You will rehearse your walk through this now architectual space and try to populate your groundplan with people, encount ers, acts - vital in their appearance or imagery.
You will present your story to one singular person. Don’t construct psychological drama. Be precise, personal and open to any new memory that comes to mind.
• You will have the opportunity to again rehearse, go over your stories in the groundplan on site, or make changes in the set-up of the landmark poles. You will tour-guide the group through yourre-imagined city or village. Your presentation will one of 12 personal stories from 12 different memories.
• You are asked to draw a map of your trajectory in any mode you wish, ranging from the style of old cartographers to the strict lines of urban city planners.
This map is a first personal artifact for a memory chamber in your palace.

Week 2: 23 - 27 September

Theoretical Week
• Alexander Technique training with Stephan van Dijk, lunch preparations, lunches in the Glasshouse
• guest teachers: Dr. Christiaan Hamaker (NL), Erik Temmerman (B)
• introduction to the Alexander Technique by Stephan van Dijk (NL)
• visit to: Bibliotheca Hermetica in Bloemstraat, Amsterdam

Week 3: 30 September - 4 October

Story Telling
• guest teacher Ken Campbell (GB)
• introduction into the oral tradition of Story Telling. Participation in a series of workshops under the supervision of guest teacher Ken Campbell. This resulted in an internal group presentation in Ruud II.

Week 4: 7 October - 11 October

Memory Theatre
• guest teacher Rieks Swarte (NL)
• the set design inspired by Matteo Ricci’s Memory Theatre made by Rieks Swarte was installed in Ruud II. Representing the Knowledge in the Universe, it gives us a sense of how the Ars Memorativa, the ancient mnemoric system was used. This space was explored by the students and used to prepare in concept their own memory room.

Week 5: 14 October - 18 October

Performance Art
• guest teacher Fiona Templeton (GB)
• subject of the workshop : YOU the city:
• strategies of organisations were explained and discussed
• the real world as a huge stage, an existing backdrop, a frame, a screen
• the working of the idea of the palimsest
• the role of the tourguide as a manipulator
• the workshop took place on location (Zoutkeetsgracht 114) ans resuted in an internal presentation.

Week 6: 21 October - 25 October

Collective Memory
• guest teacher Elisabeth Kohlhaas (D)
• a lecure about: Female complicity in the crimes of the Nazis and how Germans remember it.
• a visit to the Verzetsmuseum in Amsterdam, and a guided tour to memorial spaces, and existing sites that 'are not here anymore'.

Week 7: 28 October - 3 November

Return to Story Telling
• guest teacher Ken Campbell (GB)
• return to the oral tradition of Story Telling.. The workshop resulted in an internal group presentation in Ruud II.
• on the 1st of November DasArts Dialogues in de Balie took place: Ken Campbell’s History of Comedy – Part One: Ventriloquism. A mind boggling trip into the bizarre world of a master story-teller.

Week 8: 4 November - 7 November

Return Performance Art
• guest teacher Fiona Templeton(GB)
• return to the oral tradition of Story Telling. The workshop resulted in an external group presentation Open Lab 106 on Thursday 7 November in Ruud II.
• process: a location (a place) was chosen to be filled with fresh actions during one week. Then it was closed off, for two weeks, and kept in its unchanged state. On returning the memories of the events taken place, were remembered and re-enacted backwards. New actions were constructed based on this work.
• presentation: the group presented a temporal Memory Palace – a form in time not space – as a possible model to contain individual memory projects. The performance will be a test of the structure, so the content will be improvised rather than representing the eventual projects. The discussion that follows is therefore considered part of the presentation.
• visit to the Conference ‘Vague, Volatile, Incomprehensible’ from 8 November - 10 November in Center for Drama Art, Zagreb
• guest speaker: (among others) Heike Roms, Marten Spangberg, Jackie Smart, Goran Sergeij Pristas, Susanne Winnacker
• visit to the performancesTrafik by Eurodance, Man.Chair by BaDco., Rocking by Indos/Omerzo/Matula, Zagreb

Week 9: 11 November - 15 November

Lighting Design
• guest teacher Herbert Cybulska (D)
• Further work on the individual memory projects.Workshop on lighting design by Herbert Cybulska.

Week 10: 18 November - 22 November

Memory Theatre
• guest teacher Herbert Cybulska (D) and Guenther Heeg (D)
• lectures on: commemorative Theatre, The Memory of the dead and on works by Heiner Mueller.
• 12 Final Presentations in Open Lab 107: in recurring presentations by the participants, on changing locations autobiographical, fictive and non-fictive stories and installations were presented to a select audience. They are be considered as building materials, the furniture of each private memory chamber - a place that materializes the ideas of its owners and, possibly, leaves traces in the minds and memories of its visitors.

Share this page on: