Speaking volumes
In SPEAKING VOLUMES Mirjam Sögner deals with geological processes, evolving landscapes and questions the role of humans within this dynamic, global apparatus.
Mountainous formations of foam, stones, plastic foils and three performers encounter each other and let the non-human have their say. The piece experiments with poetic tales of geological time, the search for our own cartographic localisation and the constant roar of drilling machines.
Since its genesis the surface of the Earth has been constantly shifting. Due to human activity such as mining, urbanisation and agriculture this reshaping process is speeding up to the point where we can now perceive the dynamic changes of landmasses.
How can we think a world that stands at the very beginning of its geological time scale? How can we comprehend the transformational processes of shellfish solidifying, of the Alps piling up or continental plates shifting over the course of millions of years?
In SPEAKING VOLUMES materials and performers interact with their different temporalities and agencies. Together they wonder how vast layers of sediment can operate inside the confined theatre space to have their say and ask about the place of the human within this structure of impermanence, formability and persistence.
Credits:
Artistic direction, choreography and performance: Mirjam Sögner In collaboration with performers: Luan De Lima, Ana Laura Lozza Music composition: Samuel Herz Light and stage design: Martin Beeretz Dramaturgy: Maja Zimmermann Production and PR: Jana Luethje
Choreographic assistance: Renae Schadler Movement coach: Angela Schubolt Costume: Mirjam Sögner and Judith Förster
A production by Mirjam Sögner in co-production with brut Wien and SOPHIENSÆLE. Funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe, the City of Vienna’s Department of Culture and the Austrian Federal Chancellery. With the kind support of Tanzfabrik Berlin. Preliminary research was made possible by the Goethe Institute and Circuit-Est Montréal.
