GESCHÖPFE

*Pandemic version

Ben J. Riepe and six performers shed light on the conditio humana, on human nature, between fragile creatureliness and one’s own creative, effectual powers, between deiform deed and hybris, between merciless exploitation of the environment and powerlessly being at the mercy of it – as both subject and object of a natural world order, with ourselves at its summit, as we perceive it. What new modes of communality may instead be imagined? Designed as a transmedia opera that choreographically connects movement, sculpture, dance, live singing, installation, sound and digital impulse, the reference space and canon of imagery in “GESCHÖPFE” ranges from the Frankenstein myth to cyborgs and chimaeras, from ancient Greek mythology to essays on the Anthropocene era.
Düsseldorf choreographer Ben J. Riepe originally studied dance, but now views his works positioned between the visual and the performing arts. He is fascinated by the tension in which the body is situated, and its role as an instrument, as a living object of art, and as a human being itself. His artistic creation is informed by the ephemerous and the abiding, even, by content and expression, by the political, social, emotional and the aesthetic, but also by possibilities, options, problems and requirement. “I work on the art of seduction and the seduction of art,” says Ben J. Riepe.

“Due to rising infection rates, the arrangement of the production “GESCHÖPFE” was altered and now differs from the originally conceived and rehearsed version and, in particular, allows less proximity onstage. However, we do not want to see this change solely as a limitation. It also offers the possibility of emphasizing the questions of our existence between subject and object formulated for the piece as well as formally adding to the production in its pandemic version with a comment on the artistic reality of our time.” Ben J. Riepe

Duration: 110 min.