KULTUUR
Maria Metsalu (Tallinn)
Schedule
Premiere
KULTUUR contemplates the Sun. Performance not as thesis but as experience – something between a piano concert and a finger-painted surface. The Sun radiates energy. The Sun might nurture life, or burn right through it. Metsalu gathers herself on the orbit of this duality. KULTUUR accommodates chaos and rejects it. Intensities vary between states of pleasure, indifference, suffering and hope for renewal. Metsalu displays herself as an object of spectacle, then denies the spectacle. We face KULTUUR as an audience, a collective body. This body will be fed, entertained and challenged.
The performance is divided into three baroque and splendorous movements – the parade at the hot dog cart, the concert of the Flower and the final consumption of the Sun, table d’hôte. KULTUUR is a celebration of life – of its fleeting, sensual nature. A desire for simplicity exists in tension with the allure of excess.
The pleasures are earthly, even if their energy comes from the body of a star.
Biography
Estonian artist and performer Maria Metsalu views performance as a radical space and performing deviance as a possibility through which new meanings could be created. Her work seeks to proliferate meanings rather than systematize them into a clarity. Her works have been shown at the Art In General Gallery New York, at the deSingel Arts Centre Antwerp and at the Institute of Contemporary Arts London (ICA) amongst others.
At her core, Maria Metsalu is a vagabond artist and rejects the idea of a base. Currently she lives and works mainly in Europe.
Artjom Astrov is a musician based in Vienna. His eclectic composition style incorporates both produced and found sound, digital processing, and songwriting. Astrov’s use of voice (spoken word, rapping) can be characterized by a sense of alienated lyricism. As a sound designer for various contemporary performance productions, Astrov has developed a distinctively minimalistic approach that relies on spatial and conceptual properties of sound.
Cast
Concept & Performance Maria Metsalu Sound Artjom Astrov Text & Dramaturgical Assistance Jaakko Pallasvuo Scenography Nikola Knezevic | Maria Metsalu Catering Karim Boumjimar Costume Kris Lemsalu | CRUDA | Varvara Boutique Technical Assistance Henry Kasch | Bruno Lillemets Tour Management Kaie Küünal
Info
The performance starts on Einsteinstraße between Max-Weber-Platz and Einstein Kultur.
Please follow the signs on site.
This is a traveling performance that starts on the street and takes the audience to several different spaces. Chairs can be provided in case standing is challenging.
Accessibility
Production & Realization
Co-Production Maria Metsalu | Kanuti Gildi SAAL | TOASTER Copenhagen | Kiasma Theater | SPIELART Theatre Festival Supported by Cultural Ministry of Estonia and the Estonian Cultural Endowment
The residency is supported by the Helsinki International Artist Programme (HIAP) and Kanuti Gildi SAAL
