Dunkle Materie (Dark Matter)
Notes on blindness
I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish’d, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air.
(from Darkness by Lord Byron)
Dark Matter is a postulated form of matter. Its existence is postulated, because it is the only way to explain the movement of visible matter in the universe according to the standard model of cosmology. Leading cosmologists estimate that 95% of the universe consists of Dark Matter (and dark energy). Even though we know almost nothing about it. Thereby Dark Matter stands for the limits of human power and knowledge, offering an associative and playful access to the themes of blindness, powerlessness and guilt. In our work we combine this theme with the ancient tragedies of Oedipus by Sophokles and transfer them to the anthropocene.
The motive of guilt runs through history in ever changing forms. Be it in the form of the Christian sin, the ecological footprint or hubris, one of the action-determining motives of the Attic tragedy. In contrast to the time of antiquity, today there is a lack of productive dealing with guilt questions, which receive new impetus through the concept of the Anthropocene. Instead, it is expoited (populism = the others are to blame, greenwashing = commercialization of guilt), internalized (neoliberalism = you are guilty of yourself) or repressed.
Following the example of Oedipus and the Anthropocene, the catastrophe has already happened. The audience still waiting in the foyer recognizes on a notice that the performance has already been running for several hours. Loudspeakers broadcast the announcements of the stage manager to the foyer quite loudly. Inside the theater room, a mix of puppetry, tragedy, technical performance and picture theater awaits the audience. To approach the question of guilt means to encircle it, to demonstrate and reflect on the failure of linear, seemingly meaningful or pedagogical narratives.
by and with O-Team
direction: Samuel Hof / stage & costumes: Nina Malotta / music: Rivkah Tenuiflora / actor: Folkert Dücker / dramaturg: Antonia Beermann / sound & video: Pedro Pinto / graphics: Markus Niessner / produktion: schæfer&sœhne / assistent: Leonard Mandl
production management: schæfer&sœhne
Nov 2018, Theater Rampe, Stuttgart
July 2019 Altofest, Naples (Italy)
Nov 2019 Projektraum Kunstverein Wagenhalle, Stuttgart
Dark Matter is a production by O-Team in cooperation with Theater Rampe.
It is the second part of the Independent Institute for Animism and Technology.
Funded by the City of Stuttgart and Landesverband freier Tanz- und Theaterschaffender Baden-Württemberg e.V. with the budget of the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts in Baden-Württemberg.