Martina Jurak RE-

Performance

Audio-dance performance is a part of the cycle titled “Passing”, through which the artist explores its habitus of inner and surrounding landscapes. It started in Slovenia in 2022 and continues in specific spaces of current residence in Berlin. The composition is divided into five sections, constructing diverse ambiences and sounds, created simultaneously with the movement. They present archives of difficult events from the past years spent in Berlin, from the lack of living and creating space to violent environments that lead to internalised discomfort. Rather than conveying an isolating path, Martina seeks ways to reverse the repetitive, harmful set of behaviours. The past events are therefore changed into performative material, opening an insight into artists living conditions that might be a common story of many inhabitants. The piece reveals cyclical inclinations in relation to research of rapidly changing urban spaces. The initial movement improvisations took place outside, on enormous building sites that serve as both windows into the expanding city and a manifestation of the gentrification processes. The long incoming highway A100 and the high building known as Edge East Side or Amazon tower are the two key locations that were examined. These investigations were integrated into the choreography, which was composed with butoh methodology and images of female transcendence found in classical; baroque, and pre-Raphaelites artworks. The following movement progressed towards erasing physical, spatial, and auditory barriers to reach across the habitual. “Re-” creates contrasting atmospheres as a path for the artist’s bodily transformation, with the intention of challenging one’s own conditions. The performance delves into cybernetic approaches, industrial rhythms and invites into altered space.

Choreography and performance : Martina Jurak
Production space : Theaterhaus Mitte
Promo video: David Lužar Light: Torsten Eissrich