The Dirty Dozen are a group of independent artists, working together, as part of a cross border collaboration. Our primary objectives are collective research, site specific performance installation and video (film) production. Live performances evolve from the exploration of dynamics between mixed mediums, including contemporary dance, sound, video, lighting and costume design. As a group we are committed to the creation and organisation of live art “happenings” developed according to a predetermined theme and methodology.
Objectively we attempt to create a fluid, non hierarchical environment for everyone involved, regardless of the fact that this is neither a simple nor an evident creative mechanism.
Body Lab N°1 Berlin-Ljubljana
GUEST(S) “Roto Retinal Happening” 13 Bodies/3 Weeks/1 Shot
On august 8th 2010, thirteen participating artists engaged the first collective process of THE DIRTY DOZEN. The first body lab took place simultaneously between Berlin & Ljubljana. Project orientation was based on an introductory text, proposed to the group by Berlin based Lebanese writer Charlie Haddad. The project was funded by the DRAC in Brittany and Culture France. Interconnection between Berlin (Germany) and Ljubljana (Slovenia) was made possible by Wanda & Nova deViator, using streaming technologies and contemporary digital communication. The first exploration culminated in the form of an open-house 2hr+ live performance preview on august 28th 2010 in Berlin at Schwelle 7 with a simultaneous live-stream, studio performance proposal from Ljubljana.
Artists in Berlin : Michel Abdoul, Pascal Baes, Kiril Bikov, Awateff Fettar, Veronica Mota, Oskar Oskur, Dusan Pejčič, Kathleen Reynolds, Aï Suzuki, Gill Viandier, Raphaël Vincent
Artists in Ljubljana :Maya Delak, Luka Prinčič
Moving Frames and Cross Border Histories
First Encounter
Body Lab
In regard to work on hybridisation and transformation, the notion of time has become a priority for us. Time multiplied and unfolded as the time we spent in the space, the time we spent experimenting, crossing between various “frames”, communicating and experiencing visual as well as sonic ideas. The process became a permanent exchange between the inside and the outside, an elongation and distortion, an intense dislocation, from ethereal presence to physical force. Capturing a full range of dynamics with the synchronocity of sound and sight, with time to alter behaviour and to stimulate imagination. Space to experience a full range of dynamics in terms of content, time, pace etc. The internal time of the performers bodies and of course the time of the audience. The experience became analogous to a strange, hypnotic and cerebral dream.
Audiance
Project History
From TnS(blink) to the Dirty Dozen
Dancers: Michel Abdoul & Lulu Rafano, Cameraman: Raphaël Vincent, Choréographer: Kathleen Reynolds, Costumes & Body Paint: Dusan Pejčič, Assistant camera & Stage Crew: Oscar Oscur and Aweteff Fettart
The following introduction, written from the vantage of post-colonial feminist theory, was proposed to the group by Charlie Haddad in early January 2010.
"We believe that it is precisely this point -- the subject formation -- that is linked to the question of politics of representation. It seems that we can try to locate in many ways the dispersed (non-centralized) powers and ideologies that objectify our bodies and manipulate their representations as coherent fixed stable subjects and then try to subvert and fight these powers back. However, by using a technology of transmission, of broadcast, a digital version of the televisual… enhanced with the fact of remoteness, and a kind of digital presence…we would like to explore the possibilities of self-imaging… we want to activate (rather than disavow or repress) the processes of displacement, projection and identification... We are looking into possible new ways of seeing, being seen, and producing subjects of postmodern space/body who embrace its ambiguities and disorientations rather than erasing, suppressing, or otherwise attempting to master them”
The word “frame” is a generic term that we use to designate variable source materials, such as film sequences, photographs, paintings, tabloids, texts, iconography… we chose “frames” as a founding principle/methodology, for the development of a collective process. The word “frame” also evokes multiple definitions, in reference to “borders”, “condition”, “structure”, “system”, “shape”, ”institute”, “draft”…
Each participating artist is invited to conduct individual research according to a predetermined theme and methodology, acknowledging personal objectives and orientations prior to engaging the collective process.
Source “frames” may range from fine art to pop culture… from official educational spots to news tabloids. Materials brought to the table communicate individual perspectives within the framework of the pre-determined collective interrogation.
The objective is to reprocess individual “frames”, acknowledging the space they occupy in our own personal history whilst simultaneously operating a critical deformation and/or (mis) interpretation. It is through this process of hybridisation or morphing that we seek to highlight the gap between (pre) packaged materials and individual response. Through this process we attempt to question mechanisms of social (dis) identification, including fascination, excitement, neglect, exploitation, even fear. Throughout the process we aim to organize various disassembled non chronological ' frames' that will evolve to become components for the development of live performances and film productions, costume, lighting, sound and set design.
First Encounter
A vital part of the artistic process is communication. Prior to engaging collective research in the form of workshops or « body labs » we meet and discuss both group direction and individual objectives. We expose and review selected materials (“frames”) that may eventually be shared and explored within a group process. On a symbolical level, we are interested in provoking a collective interrogation, considering variable subjective and socio-culturally oriented points of view. On a global level we are interested in examining socio-political propaganda as well as individual socio-cultural heritage. We aim to cross examine multiple references in order to enable a more deconstructive analysis, attempting to interrogate socio-political processes that shape public thought as well as…private bodies.
Body Lab
It appeared to us that an in-situ, site specific production period presented the most interesting way of exploring our concerns/work/concept. Through inhabiting the space we were able to modify our relationship to time. This shift in spatio-temporal perception emerged through the time spent together in the everyday, through the sharing of socialised activities (cooking, cleaning…) But mainly through the intensive multifaceted exploration of individual and overlapping elements…entering, enduring and exploring space as a vast territory, taking it over, building it, reclaiming it.
Time and it's Elongation
In regard to work on hybridisation and transformation, the notion of time has become a priority for us. Time multiplied and unfolded as the time we spent in the space, the time we spent experimenting, crossing between various “frames”, communicating and experiencing visual as well as sonic ideas. The process became a permanent exchange between the inside and the outside, an elongation and distortion, an intense dislocation, from ethereal presence to physical force. Capturing a full range of dynamics with the synchronocity of sound and sight, with time to alter behaviour and to stimulate imagination. Space to experience a full range of dynamics in terms of content, time, pace etc. The internal time of the performers bodies and of course the time of the audience. The experience became analogous to a strange, hypnotic and cerebral dream.
Audiance
The performance research also seeks to reflect on alternative methods of showing the work to spectators/publicly. How can we attempt to fluidify the pre-supposed hierarchical relationship between performers and spectators? How might we attempt to cross the dividing line of the performance “arena” and the public “auditorium”. How can we fluidify pre-established roles, between a presumably passive audience and the presumably active performers? How might we explore time space and rhythm in order to create a more permeable experience for everyone? How can we create and sustain an experience that allows for free circulation, variable perspectives and individual points of view? How can we offer space for people to examine the effects of each element in relation to the others? To what extent can we experience and stimulate different qualities and levels of intensity… for those that might want to go through them. How can we generate open possibilities, with time to think, feel, see, hear, explore and participate in an organised process?
“When attention is shifted from the signifying body to the body as it is lived, the disembodied field of vision re-enters the dynamics of perception and habitation as these are engaged in the seeing-place of actual bodies, where even the eye is living”
Stanton B Garner, Bodied Spaces (London: Cornell University Press, 1994 p.45
From TnS(blink) to the Dirty Dozen
Dancers: Michel Abdoul & Lulu Rafano, Cameraman: Raphaël Vincent, Choréographer: Kathleen Reynolds, Costumes & Body Paint: Dusan Pejčič, Assistant camera & Stage Crew: Oscar Oscur and Aweteff Fettart
original sound score: Veronica Motta
“The expérience of our first film was liberating in the sense that the visual process rid us of certain specific restraints inherent to stage production. From the perspective of a spectator (off rather than on-frame) we found ouselves moving alongside each frame, experiencing with equal intensity the space itself, time and the physical presence of the dancers & stage crew. It felt more like an act of painting than performance, choosing perspectives and moving through each sequence. The multiplication of frames created a dissolution of all boundries, something blurry, amorphous and prone to subjective definition, like being an integral part of the canvas, when all perceptive phenomena fuse into one… » K. Reynolds
In 2008 choreographer Kathleen Reynolds (Ambitrix) and vidéo artist Raphaël Vincent (Ruinsproduction) began working together on their first choreographic film production entitled TnS(Blink). The film was made with the generous assistance of a small group of artists working between France and Germany. The project was funded by support from the Conseil Général des Côtes D’Armor, « La Cascade » in Bourg St. Andéole and coordinated in France by Yvain Lemattre, administrative representative for Ambitrix. “TnS (blink)” was shot at Beelitz-Heilstatten (Germany) early September 2009.
The « TnS », film production was in fact the starting point and incentive for The Dirty Dozen. Much of the material for the film’s content was developed in reference to pre-existant mass-media “frames”. This founding methodology would later be introduced as a starting point for individual research in the collective process. We began by collecting material that was personally significant. References that were an acknowledgeable part of individual constitution. Materials that spontaneously resurfaced or came to mind in relation to a predefined theme of interrogation. We were looking to gain perspective in light of individual background and personal history. Images that we could identify with and claim as our own. References that we might cross examine and reprocess within the framework of collective performance research.
The concept of the performance project was presented to Berlin based choreographer Felix Ruckert in October of 2009. The first collective body lab began in his (privately operated) performance space on august 8th 2010. Thirteen artists of various artistic background, were invited to participate. Charlie Haddad, who acted as film consultant for TnS(blink), was asked to write an introductory thème for the group, based upon his own theoretical stand-point while working on the film process. Work with The Dirty Dozen in Berlin culminated in our first two hour + performance at Schwelle 7 on august 28th 2010 with simultaneous feedback of a four hour + interactive live-chat performance by Wanda and Nova deViator as “Venus or Nero”, performing in Ljubljana. With Special thanks to: Felix Ruckert, Ango Visoné, Yvain Lemattre and Pauline & Marie Sol-Dordain for helping us to make it happen.
g u e s t (s) body lab for 13 players
The following introduction, written from the vantage of post-colonial feminist theory, was proposed to the group by Charlie Haddad in early January 2010.
« exploring socio-discursive processes that shape bodies and spaces as sites of social (dis)identification »
A critical project explicating the politics of representation must interrogate the onto-epistemological (pre)suppositions predicated on such a practice. What is at stake in this interrogation is precisely what matters; the question of the body, and the body posed as questionable.
But what is the question of the body? And how does the body in this question silhouette a shape of bodies that are constructed as socially questionable? In other words, how does the question of the body imply the simultaneous production of a domain of bodies that are shaped as socially questionable?
The production (or question) of social bodies is predicated on the simultaneous production of a sphere of socially abject or questionable bodies. Therefore, the question of the body is produced through the force of exclusion and abjection of the body as questionable, one which produces a constitutive ‘outside’ to the question of the body; an abject ‘outside’ marking the body as questionable.
Thirteen bodies will inhabit Schwelle 7 for a three-week intervention to explore the simultaneous production and subjugation of bodies and the processes that shape bodies as sites of sociopolitical (dis)identification. More specifically, this intervention will explore how the body is shaped, along the axes of multiple identity categories, as an effect of dynamic power relations that function to produce the question of the body and the body as questionable.
Wanda and Nova deViator sent the following response to The Dirty Dozen on august 13t h2010
Further Research & Post Production
This season we are concentrating our efforts on production and distribution, seeking potential partners and appropriate venues for cross border research and site specific performance. This season we aim to inform, research and achieve our goal of a future performance production for 2011-2012. Due to obvious organizational factors and financial constraint we have chosen this year to conduct further research on an informal and individual basis in our perspective territories of residence. During the summer of 2011, artists Kathleen Reynolds, Raphaël Vincent, Maya Delak, Awateff Fettar, Dusan Pijcij, Oskar Oskur and Gilles Viandier will join in Berlin. Together we aim to create a post production film, generating an extended physical and visual exploration of chosen “frames” extracted from the “Roto Retinal” process at Schwelle 7 in 2010. In preperation of our next group production, Charlie Haddad has been invited to explore the theme of “ghosts and revolutionaries”. He has recently set to work on the composition of a text that will later be the starting point & reference for The Dirty Dozen’s body lab N°2.
Note from Caoimhe Mader McGuinness
On the Dirty Dozen project:
Note from Caoimhe Mader McGuinness
On the Dirty Dozen project:
In her seminal 1988 essay on gender, “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution”, Judith Butler argues “... the body is not merely matter but a continual and incessant materializing of possibilities. One is not simply a body, but, in some very key sense, one does one's body and, indeed, one does one's body differently from one's contemporaries and from one's embodied predecessors and successors as well”.
This is a key to understanding a performance practice seeking to interrogate processes of individual formation, in an act of both reclaiming and subverting collective and individual cultural signifiers- as they translate into one's very own flesh. Indeed, if The Dirty Dozen seek to explore the materialization of identity, particularly through a given socio-cultural framework, the mode of dissemination happens from and through the body.
As Charlie Haddad indicates, in his response to The Dirty Dozen’s project: “A critical project explicating the politics of representation may interrogate the onto-epistemological (pre)suppositions predicated on such a practice. What is at stake in this interrogation is precisely what matters; the question of the body, and the body posed as questionable.”
An aspect of The Dirty Dozen’s work, then, may be the ethical problem posed by the representational aspect at the core of performance practice itself. The question of the body can be both a question emerging from within artists bodies themselves, but also, in the moment of sharing, the question of which body exactly may unfold before a spectator's eyes. As Butler argues in her 2004 essay Precarious Life: “The human is indirectly affirmed in that very disjunction that makes representation impossible, and this disjunction is conveyed in the impossible representation. There is something unrepresentable that we nevertheless seek to represent, and that paradox must be retained in the representation we give.”
Or rather, in the words of Wanda and Nova DeViator: “We are looking into possible new ways of seeing, being seen, and producing subjects of postmodern space/body who embrace its ambiguities and disorientations rather than erasing, suppressing, or otherwise attempting to master them”