Next to Near
2017
When does something feel close or intimate? Does intimacy necessarily mean physical
closeness? When does something appear to be extremely far away and untouchable? What
is the relationship between distance and intensity?
Next to Near is a guided journey, a body-scape, an exploration of the relationship between
proximity and distance.
Three performers, 60 audience members, and various objects, all share a physical space that
becomes their playground. The performers serve as ״space facilitators״ re- organizing, transforming and shifting the conditions in the space, as well as reference points for the audience.
Inspired by the concept of Psychogeography, developed by Guy Debord and the Situationist International movement in the 1960s, Next to Near investigates how our mental experiences and behavior are influenced by the spatial, architectural structures of the world around us. The double meaning of the geographical terms is provoked in the piece. On the one hand, nearness and distance can be defined as purely geographical parameters. On the other hand, they also describe a mental stance - a feeling towards a place, a person, or an object of reference.
In a world in which feelings of familiarity and strangeness are no longer a question of geographical distance, Next to Near reflects an unstable attitude towards one׳s physical position and location, suggesting fantasy and play as a possible process.
Concept, Choreography, Performance:
May Zarhy, Hermann Heisig
Music composition, Outside eye: Tian Rotteveel
Light design: Sandra Blatterer
Costume, Stage: Lea Søvsø, Marie Gerstenberger
Prop: lost and found Aarhus
Technical direction: Fabian Bleisch
Production management: Susanne Ogan, Johanna Milz
Production: Hermann Heisig, MAMAZA
Support:
SOPHIENSÆLE Berlin
Künstlerhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt
Schaubühne Lindenfels Leipzig
Berliner Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa
The cultural foundation of the state of Saxony
The city of Frankfurt
Residency at Kelim Choreography Center Israel
Presentations:
23 - 26.2.2017 | Sophiensaele, Berlin Germany
18 - 19.3.2017 | Schaubühne Lindenfels, Leipzig Germany
24 - 25.10.2017 | Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt Germany
