"Point Of Departure"
ARMA
Theatre in an Interdisciplinary Theatre
Project
Inspired by Gertrud Kraus and her era, Celebrating her 100th
Anniversary.
ARMA Theatre is creating a new production, by the name "Point
Of Departure". The production combines different art
domains and traces the work of Gertrud Kraus, who was a
leading and "different" creative artist, in an
era full of artistic inspiration.
Gertrud Kraus, who was born in Austria in the year 1903,
is a symbol and example of an artist who combined ideology
and art, determination and a strong belief in her way. She
was the representative of the new Expressionist, innovative
dance. Gertrud was a "total artist", engaged in
painting, sculpting and music as well. Her instructive life
story reflects the true spirit of a universal artist, whose
art breaks conventions and unites people. Gertrude Kraus
lived and created in Austria and Germany between the years
1903-1935, the year she immigrated to Israel. In Israel
she continued to create, teach and influence many artists
till her death in 1977. Her artistic heritage influences
artists until today.
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Gertrude
Kraus brought with her, to Israel, international inspiration
from a volatile era, an era full of changes, between the
two world wars. On the agenda were: total changes in the
worldly order, crushed economy and the horrors of war. All
these issues, found a diverse way of expression, in the
different art streams that rose at the time and marked the
way to new and innovative kinds of art.
It was the beginning of the era of Modernism, a thrilling
era, with all the new art being created in a time of changes
and turnabout.
Gertrude Kraus symbolizes for us, a "point of departure"
from which we are drawn into a time full of social and cultural
upheavals, at the beginning of the 20th Century. Today,
nearly 100 years later, at the dawn of the 21st Century,
when we observe social-political issues, it seems like "there
is no new news under the sun…" In Israel, we
live in a constant situation of "between wars",
shattered economy, unemployment, class differences and the
cultural-economic gap which is growing more and more as
time passes, also, we are witnesses to causeless hatred
and loss of human values.
Looking at the art that has been made during the 20th Century,
we can see that it has become less dogmatic and more open
to changes. The Modern art became complicated due to questions
that came up, like: what is art? Who can or is it at all
possible to judge it or criticize it? These questions lead
us to ask more questions like: Where is the art of the 21st
Century going? What is the influence of the political &
social processes taking place now, on the art being created?
If at all…
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The
project (production/show/spectacle) "Point Of Departure",
strives to compose between the artistic work of Gertrude
Kraus and the Modernist era with all its diverse art streams
and between the present era, in which different art streams
are represented, like: post-modern architecture, art of
Installation and Performance art, Earth art, World music,
Physical Theatre, Movement, Dance Theatre and Site Specific
Theatre. We would like to create a new piece of work that
will connect the different arts streams and purify them
into a sum total of one creation, closing the circuit,
100 years after the beginning of Modernism.
We as creative artists, are drawn to Gertrude Kraus as
an international artist, who decided to immigrate to Israel
and continue her artistic creation here, although she
was very successful in Europe. Moreover, the strong affinity,
between the social-political-economical distresses in
the time between the two world wars, to our time today
(before a third world war? Or has it already begun…),
is compelling and artistically inspiring. We feel a deep
need to react with committed, recruited art, in order
to express our hardships and thoughts, as citizens of
this country and the "Global Village", in view
of the bad energy, the corruption and bloodshed that is
taking over the world.
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ARMA Theatre, hosting known artists from Austria, Germany
and Israel, will produce the project "Point Of Departure",
which will combine diverse art domains like theatre, dance,
music, plastic-art, video-art, and special light design. The
show will take place inside an Installation which combines
an arena of salt on the floor. A dynamic arena that will change
shape and texture during the show. Around the arena we will
design an exhibition of painting, sculpture and diverse design
work (by the artists of the Ein-Hod artist's village and guest
artists). Inside and outside the arena, the interdisciplinary
theatrical event, will take place. While the performance is
not taking place, the metamorphosed arena will continue to
function as part of the whole installation (video-art, music
and diverse means of display) and as an inseparable part of
the exhibition around it.
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The
closed arena, like the circle of time and history repeating
itself; is birth and death again and again.
The show will be combined of several
acts ("numbers" supposedly) who's point of departure
are taken from a sentence, movement, image, music, costume
or décor, that Gertrude Kraus used in her work.
These points of departure, will lead us to new creation,
which will try to embody all the art domains streams mentioned,
being inspired by the Modernism and the current era, all
through our artistic vision and conception. The show is
a kind of theatre-circus-cabaret, utilizing different artistic
languages and combining the movement, musical, plastic,
visual and textual. The different
acts will be "sown together" by a grotesque-poetic
figure, between a clown and bouffon, which will supposedly
serve as the "Monsieur Royal".
"A choreographer is not just a dancer. It is possible
that sometimes he is not a dancer at all. Being a choreographer
means, being a director, musician, poet, painter and architect
all at the same time…" [Gertrud Kraus]
-- text by Lisa Jacobson, ARMA Theater.
Below, selected images from te ARMA theater performance:
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