#10 Fortress: Undo > The implications and possibilities of on-stage and off-stage performance > Philippine Hoegen

 

The deconstruction of a Fortress

Philippine Hoegen

In this field research by Philippine Hoegen the students explored, both individually and collectively, the implications and possibilities of on-stage and off-stage performance. Fortress: Undo is a choreographed event, which revolves around a ‘fortress’ of objects: a large, divers collection of things and furniture, stacked to form an impenetrable looking structure in the middle of the space. The aim of this event is to undo this fortress by adopting the objects that compose it, carefully liberating them, and allowing ourselves to be transformed by them.

Fortress Undo 04 Fortress Undo 03 Fortress Undo 02 Fortress Undo 01
Impression of Fortress: Undo

There is a preconceived idea of the trajectory communicated through scores that are revealed one by one throughout the fortress, but ultimately the participants all, individually and as a group, determine what happens. Everyone has to answer for them-selves the question of what moves them, what holds them and how can they open their minds to the idea of transformation, how can you both trigger and undergo a transformation with or through an object.

This will mean leveling some fortresses in ourselves. The fortress that has taught us that we manipulate objects, not the other way round. But also the fortress that tells us we are unique and un-changeable individuals, to name just a few.

This video documentation was shot by the participants as part of the event.

Veldonderzoeksleider Philippine Hoegen is onderzoeker bij het lectoraat Autonoom Maken en docent bij de bacheloropleiding Beeldende Kunst van AKV|St.Joost. Haar veldonderzoek was een praktische vertaling van het onderzoek dat zij (samen met studenten) uitvoert binnen het lectoraat. In dat onderzoek verkent ze strategieën en technologieën die mensen gebruiken om andere versies van zichzelf te maken, en naar wat het bestaan van die andere versies betekent voor ons begrip van het ‘zelf’.