Phoenix – Aarhus

A co-production with Bora-Bora, TSA – Træsskibsforeningen Aarhus & Nordic Performing Art Days in May-June 2014.

Phoenix was a sensory, immersive performance developed by 9 Nordic and international artists from different genres. The audience was led through the experience one at a time, guided by an interactive sound system – cross-coded with a GPS – and by the encounters with the performers.

In Phoenix you follow the delicate traces to yet unexplored sites… smells of hemp robe and tarred wood-ship hulls, forgotten vanilla-scented dreams and childhood-dusted drawers, the shadow of a face resembling your own.

The performance was a hybrid of installation, soundscapes, interactive technology, video, poetry, sensory experience and performance, and was awarded by Statens Kunstfonds Legatudvalg for its “strong idiom, bombarding the bodily senses, and a consequent staging challenging the perception of the audience”.

The audience said:

“Wooooow, I don’t have words for what I experienced! Thank you!”

“So cool setup folks!! So often we see ”arty” setups, with no substance, but this blew me – big respect.”

“…a fantastic journey into yourself”
– Carsten Holst, leader of Filmby Aarhus reviewing the performance in Kulturkampen on TV2. The three critics all gave Phoenix 5 out of 5 stars.

“Thanks a lot! I also found emotions that I didn’t know I had. That is bloody good and important and difficult -> that is art. Thank you for that.”

The Phoenix Concept:

You become the main character: physically, you move through the harbour area, mentally and emotionally you are invited to travel through your own personal adventure.

Encounters and experiences lead you further into the crevices of what you are, what you remember, what you fear and what you dream of.

Each of these experiences has been developed based on the key themes within the classical ‘journey’ myths and is designed to give the audience the opportunity to delve into the main theme in a deeply personal and experiential way.

The experiences of the journey aim to touch the underlying knowledge in the body, and ask questions that pass beyond our normal consciousness and control. This creates an opportunity to open new or forgotten doors in the mind of the audience.

Funded by:

Statens Kunstråd, Kultur Kontakt Nord, Aarhus kommune, Bikuben Fonden og Bora-Bora,  TSA – træskibsforeningen Aarhus.

Video: Christoffer Brekne

Participating artists:

• Artisic leader and performer: Mette Aakjær (Denmark)
• Process leader and director: Sarah John (Australia)
• Composer and sound-artist: Thoranna Bjornsdottir (Iceland)
• Technical interaction designer: Rune Brink (Denmark)
• Co-creating performer and dancer: Cindy Rudel (Germany)
• Co-creating performer and dancer: Nina Matthis (Sweden)
• Visual artist: Sigrid Astrup (Norway)
• Author: Sonja Winckelman Thomsen (Denmark)
  

Co-creating guest performers:

Aarhus/DK: Helga Rosenfeldt-Olsen (Danmark)

Milano/Italy: Sara Vilardo (Italy)

Director assistant: Nina Tind

 Production:

• Technical interaction designer assistance: DimsOs ved Carl Frischknecht Jensen og Mads Gensø Gundersen
• Sound mastering: Krishve (Kristian Hverring)
• Production leader: Mia Mimi Flodager
• PR og event-coordinator: Kirsten Pallesen
• Production leader assistant: Anne Majgaard Basse
• Scenographic assistants: Marianne Thøgersen, Majken Rosenqvist, Sofie Raun, Mikkel Vithner
• Video og photos: Christoffer Brekne
• Side-project: Sigrid Cecilie Moses-Jacobsen (Kaos Pilot)