THE SEED EATERS
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/6 Each scene is elemental enough to become a kind of frame for people. We learn so much about people by how they choose to wear these.
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My favourite aspect of the project came from the realisation we made in Graz that each group of performers ought to pick their own selection of vignettes to perform. Because we only had one rehearsal and many formal elements must be precise, there was no time or energy left over to play. For example, the costumes are unisex aprons that can be worn in a multitude of styles. Now, instead of rushing through this to find the quickest way to button a button, we can watch everyone discover their personal look and it is clear that this is part of the performance.
In order to give proper time for these explorations, the performers chose 10 of the seventeen vignettes to perform each night. This also meant that performers could then leave out or willingly take on a vignette that was an emotional or physical challenge. |
/7 This was the one group that elected to perform this scene
/8 Multiple groups wanted to perform this scene about three women talking in the recovery room of an abortion clinic.
/9 No one in Graz wanted to do a scene where you peel very phallic vegetables
I was always surprised by what was challenging and what was easy and I loved never having to make an assumption about anyone. This also mixed up all our roles in a way that was fitting. The performers became the authors of their own show. The collaborating artists and team at the Grazer Kunstverein became like audience members because each night was so different and we could watch each performance with surprise. Audience members became like performers because they were enticed to activate any remaining stations they didn't see after the show.
/10 Audience members exploring a station after a performance. Kate Strain, who directs the Grazer Kunstverein and Emily and I agree it would be good to come to the exhibit and activate these stations on a date.
The last night of the performance at the Grazer Kunstverein, the piece featured two students at the Graz University, Hannah and Marwin, and a musician, Anja. After the show, an audience member told me that she’d loved the moment when Anja was so in character from playing the orgasm that she confidently walked to the wrong station. She told me she completely related to the feeling. I loved hearing this because it meant that this woman had been watching Anja as Anja and not as an actor or an entertainer. She had seen Anja as a musician from Germany who lives in an apartment and teaches music and wears very pressed denim and had rehearsed with us only for a couple of hours and gotten swept up in the moment like any other human being. Austrian audiences, I was told, are trained to look for perfection. I think this is true in New York. I know I feel this impulse in myself. There is more I want to explore with The Seed Eaters, but my hope is that it creates such a considered frame that imperfection and vulnerability can be seen for what they are—not the stuff of amateurs, but as what connects us and is true.
/11 Eva, Sinica and Christoph.
/1: Rehearsal still of The Seed Eaters, Grazer Kunstverein, 2017. Photo: Lena Dragoljic.
/2: Rehearsal still from The Seed Eaters, Grazer Kunstverein, 2017. Photo: Lena Dragoljic. /3: Installation view of The Seed Eaters, Grazer Kunstverein, 2017. Photo: Lena Dragoljic. /4: Performance still from The Seed Eaters, Grazer Kunstverein, 2017. Photo: Thomas Raggam /5: Performance still from The Seed Eaters, Grazer Kunstverein, 2017. Photo: Rachel Kauder Nalebuff. /6: Rehearsal still of The Seed Eaters, Grazer Kunstverein, 2017. Photo: Lena Dragoljic /7: Rehearsal still of The Seed Eaters, Grazer Kunstverein, 2017. Photo: Lena Dragoljic /8: Performance still of The Seed Eaters, Grazer Kunstverein, 2017. Photo: Thomas Raggam /9: Exhibition still of The Seed Eaters, Grazer Kunstverein, 2017. Photo: Emily Mast /10: Performance still of The Seed Eaters, Grazer Kunstverein, 2017. Photo: Rachel Kauder Nalebuff. /11: Rehearsal still of The Seed Eaters, Grazer Kunstverein, 2017. Photo: Lena Dragoljic |