07.11.2018
Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart
Following successful productions of Flying Bach and Flying Illusion, the dance company FLYING STEPS, based in Berlin, invite you to view their new work, whose premiere will be celebrated in their home city. In a renewed collaboration with the Nationalgalerie – the group has previously performed at the Neue Nationalgalerie (in 2010) at Udo Kittelmann’s invitation ‒ their new production, Bilder einer Ausstellung (Pictures at an Exhibition), will debut at Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin in April 2019. Staged by the FLYING STEPS and the Brazilian artist duo OSGEMEOS, Bilder einer Ausstellung combines elements of art, music and dance performance. Advance ticket sales begin on 9 November 2018
How would pictures sound if they were music? What would they look like if dancers brought them to life? And what happens when contemporary artists inspire one another across boundaries of genre and fuse their various forms of art?
Bilder einer Ausstellung pursues the idea of mutual inspiration and interaction between different fields of art. The focus of Modest Mussorgsky’s famous 1874 composition is the first-person narrator, who strolls through a gallery space. The ten paintings he viewed on his walk through the exhibition embody various musical languages, each influenced by different styles and countries.
For the first time in nearly 150 years the FLYING STEPS transform this story into a visual movement. Dancers replace Mussorgsky’s first-person narrator in a choreography combining elements of urban and contemporary dance on a multidimensional stage viewable from various perspectives. This unique stage atmosphere provides the setting for the FLYING STEPS, one of the world’s most successful urban dance troupes, who in the last 10 years have delighted over a million viewers and are constantly taking on new challenges in their efforts to create unforgettable productions. Creative director Vartan Basil adds: “We guide the audience through the exhibition with dance and in the process bring Mussorgsky’s work to life.
The set design is characterised by imaginative figures and large-scale elements the Brazilian artist duo OSGEMEOS created especially for this production. Victor Hartmann’s works served as the starting point for their artistic reinterpretation. The fact that most of the paintings are considered lost opened a new realm and artistic playing field for the artists. During the day OSGEMEOS’ works will be displayed in an exhibition open to museum visitors. In this way Hamburger Bahnhof goes beyond opening its doors for evening performances and underscores its experimental understanding of the tasks of a contemporary museum. “The Hamburger Bahnhof is a place of movement. Bilder einer Ausstellung has to do with creative movement, so with this production we have achieved a perfect symbiosis”, concludes Udo Kittelmann, director of the Nationalgalerie.
