Phoenix Test Flight
– An experiment in performative travel
by Wunderland
A co-production with Bora-Bora and Laboratoriet in August-September 2012.
Phoenix Test Flight was the exploratory preparation for Wunderland’s participant-based, interactive, sensory and site-specific performance Phoenix.
11 international artists from a range of genres and a researcher met over two weeks and examined the possibilities of performative experiential travel.
Wunderland is part of a growing movement within the performing arts that is expanding the concept of theatre to an approach where the audience is transformed from observers to participants. In this movement:
There is a real meeting between performers and audience members; a meeting that is never the same from person to person.
The performance is experienced with all senses (smell, touch, taste, auditory, visual, kinesthetic) and therefore communicates on more levels than traditional theatre.
The audience can spend some of the time in the performance alone.
The relationship between reality and fiction is often negotiated, played with and/or turned upside down.
Participating artists:
Mette Aakjær (Denmark) performer and artistic leader
Sarah John (Australia) dramaturgy consultant
Cindy Rudel (Germany) co-creating performer
Nina Matthis (Sweden/Serbia) co-creating performer
Thoranna Bjornsdottir (Iceland) composer
Sigrid Astrup (Norway) visual artist
Rune Brink (Denmark) technical innovation
Sonja Thomsen (Denmark) writer/poet
Helga Rosenfeldt-Olsen (Denmark) co-creating performer
Karin Bergstrand (Sweden) co-creating performer
Barbara Simonsen (Denmark) consultant and co-creating performer
Research AU, Aarhus University:
Thomas Rosendal Nielsen (Denmark) PhD in interactive dramaturgy, Aarhus University.
Technical innovation assistants:
DimsOs by Carl Jensen and Mads Gensø Gundersen (Denmark)
Production leader: Julie Horne Møller (Denmark)
Production leader assistant: Oliver Panthera (Denmark)
Phoenix Test Flight took place 20. august – 2. september 2012.
The project was presented as a talk at Junge Hunde Festival in Aarhus in October 2012.
The project was funded by The Danish Arts Foundation’s fund for international activities, Aarhus Municipality’s fund for Cultural Development.
Photos: Michelle Bach