Monstrous Encounters of Clowns – An attempt to swallow the world
BLOCK 1-3 (2014-2015)
BLOCK 1-3 explores topics from contemporary life in which brutality and violence rub against superficiality, the ridiculous and the humorous.
The blocks are the result of short, one month working processes that Nada conducted with one to two collaborators between October 2014 and March 2015.
In our globalized society the seriousness of superficiality encounters the randomness of violence on a daily basis. While taking our ridicule need for gadgets very seriously, others deal with the banality of everyday chores in conflict zones. Violence is rendered entertaining through the flow of media while entertainment is becoming increasingly violent. Who are we in the midst of all this and how do we relate to each other? What happens to the now when we are constantly in contact to an entire planet and yet have trouble making our immediate surroundings liveable?
© Marcelo Mardones 2014
© Nada Gambier 2015
BLOCK 1
takes the shape of a performance / concert that embraces cliches from the music world and the entertainment industry as a means to speak of dying, expectations, desire, brutality, desperation and vanity. In a pot pourri of musical genres Nada Gambier and Sara Manente flirt with various degrees of failure and fragility.
Block 1 was presented in Kortrijk during the Buda Vista#5 festival in October 2014.
Performance by: Nada Gambier, Sara Manente
Music/ sound: Lieven Dousselaere
Light design by: Michael Janssens
Artistic advisor: Kate McIntosh
Texts/ lyrics: Mark Etchells, Nada Gambier
Produced by: Action Scénique
Co-produced by: Kunstencentrum Buda, Kortrijk (BE), Pianofabriek kunstenwerkplaats, Brussels (BE)
In collaboration with: wpZimmer, Antwerp (BE)
Made with the support of the Flemish Ministry of Culture (structural subsidies 2013-14 and 2015-16)
BLOCK 2
is a performance/ installation built of found materials, a video, a drawing, movement, photographs, sound and words. Costumes also play an important role. In Block 2 Nada is accompanied by Marcos Simoes and composer/ musician Lieven Dousselaere. Together they inhabit a camp like site delving into
acts of resistance, protest movements and the topics of territory and labor.
Block 2 was presented in February 2015 in Brussels during the Burning Ice#8 festival in the Kaaistudios.
Performed by: Nada Gambier, Marcos Simoes
Music/ sound: Lieven Dousselaere
Artistic advisor: Kate McIntosh
Produced by: Action Scénique
Co-produced by: Kaaitheater, Brussels (BE)
Made with the support of the Flemish Ministry of Culture (structural subsidies 2013-14 and 2015-16)
© Tjasa Kalkan 2015
BLOCK 3
is the result of a three week residency in Zagreb (hosted by the Student Center Zagreb) during which Nada, together with Mark Etchells and Thomas Kasebacher, conducted a series of interviews with local people of diverse profiles followed by a writing practise tracing the different perspectives on actuality in this particular location. Alongside this they collected visual and audio material from the city. Part of the collected material was presented to the public on the 27th of March 2015 in the form of a performative reading, structured as a walk through an imaginary city, coupled with video footage from Zagreb.
Directed by: Nada Gambier
Texts by: Nada Gambier, Thomas Kasebacher and Mark Etchells
Performed by: Nada Gambier, Thomas Kasebacher, Mark Etchells
Produced by: Action Scénique
Co-produced by: Student Centre, University of Zagreb (HR)
Made with the support of the Flemish Ministry of Culture (structural subsidies 2013-14 and 2015-16)
For more information and full recordings of the works please send a mail to nada@nadagambier.be
For up-coming dates check out the AGENDA