Humans live in a mapped world: country, region, race, nationality, class, culture, concept, belief forming boundaries and barriers, defining and distinguishing people from each other in order to construct a collective and individual identity. People experience psychological transformations in the process of migration and displacement, seeking identity in heterogeneous cultures and a consensus in a spiritual world full of divergence. Often, people can cross the map of geography, but it is very difficult to cross the map of the spirit.
Maps and Territory is an on-going international art project sponsored by IRCCA International Center for Contemporary Art Research. It attempts to explore this worldwide issue through a series of exhibitions, forums and workshops.
The exhibition invites renowned theatre director Cao Kefei, who combines installation, image and performance, to contribute her cross-border theatre events. In recent years, Cao Kefei has participated in the creation of a series of Documentary Theatre works in the theatres of China and Germany, and a performative installation work "Fleeing by Night" co-authored by refugee youth in Berlin. Because of her life and work experience in different countries, she uses an international and multiple perspective to observe the world and create. She has always retained her sensitivity to the current society exploring new theatre forms and consistently proposes innovative works. She also allows more people to get involved and experience theatre through workshops. She was a visiting professor at the Department of Applied Theatre in University of Giessen, Germany, and disseminated her theatre concept in universities.
This workshop is based on "The Invisible...""the theme taken from "Invisible Cities", the Italian writer Calvino's novel. It is an opportunity to continue Documentary Theatre practice through different media such as body, sound and vision to explore, deduce and record the participants' life theatre constructed by individual experience. Here, participants will experience how to break the conventional boundaries between different artistic media, between real life and artistic creation, between performance and viewing, and how to develop pieces of works originating from each individual and transcending the individual through physical exercises, communication, narration, creation and cooperation. Finally, the director will bring together these fragments into a collective performance.
The workshops will take place from November 10, 2018 to November 19th and at 2 p.m. on November 20th there will be a workshop presentation. The performance will take place in the library of the Geely Universaty in Beijing, which recalls the ancient church style architecture in Rome. The "Map and Territory" international art project is supported and sponsored by Geely Universaty, Beijing. Special thanks to the school of Humanities and design, Department of External and Communication.
Curator: Li Xinmo, Roland von der Emden
Director, Performance text: Cao Kefei
Vocal coach: Wang Dongjing
Text, Performance: Cao Zhi, Chang Song, Lan Tian Ao, Li Bin, Lv Xinyue, Ma Haobo, Su Jiurui, Wang Hongfei, Wang Yujing, Zhao Shuai, Zhao Zihan
Webseite: Kefei Cao | Artist | Map and Territory | IRCCA | Beijing, China
