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What, again, did Echo say?While “she’s heard by all who call; her voice has life”: does she say anything? Why can’t Narcissus see her? Can he see at all? Or did Tiresias and his “power, his wit, in prophecy” see past them?
Reflecting on the figure of the prophet, the performance “Murmurs on Mami Wata” calls for entities of vision, starting from the prophecy in Ovid’s myth of Echo and Narcissus. While the tale, inspired by ancient Greek mythology, became emblematic for “modern”-linear-exploitative-disconnected societies, it also entails a, less discussed, pre/scription for its remedy.
The performance evokes, from there, cosmogonies and practices of ancient African traditional-cyclic-remembering societies. Here, on carried grounds, figures and configurations are traced beyond the exclusivity and singularity of prophecy – as they are tied to the bodies of intermediates manifesting peoples’ ancestors in their everyday experience of the living.
An independent scholar and (sonic) inscriber, Arlette-Louise Ndakoze is carrying out research on the complex sciences initiated by African civilisations. In her work, she focuses on the connection between spiritual-immaterial and physical-material spheres, those spaces of possibility in the making. With special attention, Arlette-Louise Ndakoze treats the link that holds cultures together until today. Her research composes text and sound articulations, reportages and radio features, performances and seminars. After having initiated her research project Akayovu in 2018 with independent curations and creations, she had worked from 2018-22 as a curator and from 2020-2022 as artistic co-director of the Berlin art space SAVVY Contemporary, before intensely continuing her research at arts institutions and with artistic communities in Africa and Europe. Her recent creative form, Kamashará, expresses drawings joined by sound-text articulations.
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Funambulist is a poetic exploration of the feeling of exile, performed by one dancer and two musicians. Inspired by Sofia Gubaidulina’s composition Seiltänzer (Tightrope dancer), the piece develops a movement language between stillness and the moment just before a fall. This physical process is connected to a broader, metaphorical idea of endurance required—physically, mentally, and emotionally—by those who are displaced or separated from their roots.
Gubaidulina wrote Seiltänzer during her move from the collapsing Soviet Union to Europe. She described it as a tightrope walk over an abyss, reflecting her search for safety and identity as an artist in exile.
This theme is still relevant today. In today’s polarized world, with a declining willingness for dialogue and consensus, where censorship has once again become a tool, exile can represent not only a state of displacement but also a sense of alienation, balancing the fine line between daily cultural, economic, or ideological differences.
Liza Penkova is a Swedish dance-artist of Russian origins living and working in Gothenburg. With movement research as a foundation in her work, she looks for border-less encounters of performing genres, traditions and physical cultures. Making visible invisible stories by re-cycling past knowledge has become a reoccurring theme.
dejana sekulić is a violinist, sound+silence explorer, composer-performer, and indisciplinary artist, born at 43°18’58.5”N 21°54’39.5”E. A passionate advocate for the music of our time, she actively performs and collaborates with composers, and is engaged with performance and collaborative creations both with musicians and with artists from different disciplines.
Nao Momitani, a Japanese pianist residing in Belgium for over twenty years, is a prominent figure in contemporary music. She collaborates regularly with composers, both in Belgium and internationally.
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Funambulist är en poetisk reflektion kring känslan av exil, för en dansare och två musiker. Utifrån kompositören Sofia Gubaidulinas Seiltänzer (Lindansare) utvecklas ett rörelsespråk av balansgång mellan stillhet och ögonblicket innan ett fall. Stående och i gång med initiation från ryggradens viktförskjutningar, kopplas denna fysiska process till en bredare, metaforisk idé om uthållighet som krävs – fysiskt, mentalt och känslomässigt – av människor som befinner sig fördrivna eller separerade från sina rötter.
Kompositionen Seiltänzer skrevs under Gubaidulinas emigration från Sovjetunionens fallande murar till Europas stabila mark och i Gubaidulinas egna ord kan tolkas som en balansgång över en avgrund i sökandet efter trygghet och identitet som konstnär i exil. Tematiken är i allra högsta grad fortfarande aktuell.
I dagens polariserade värld med minskad vilja till dialog och samförstånd, där censur har återigen blivit ett verktyg, kan exil förutom ett tillstånd av fördrivning (displacement) också innebära en känsla av främlingskap grundad i balansgång mellan dagliga kulturella, ekonomiska eller ideologiska skillnader.
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RADIX is a platform where citizens, artists and scholars can re-examine the practice of theatre as radical. Since 2022 it has hosted a series of public lectures, talks and live performances on radicality in theatre as that which adhered an origin, or root – from the Latin radix. Theatre is here to be understood as the arena in which performance takes place. In this special edition of RADIX focus will be placed on performances onstage that find intimate ties with the concept of prophecy.
RADIX takes place March 22-29, with daily performances. Each evening is followed by a public talk with the audience that is optional to participate in/listen to. The program is subject to change, keep updated by checking the website.
RADIX is curated by Josephine Gray and Anmar Taha, artistic directors of IBODIES, and in co-production with Atalante.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Övre Husargatan 1, SE-411 22 Göteborg, Sverige, Övre Husargatan 1, SE-411 22 Göteborg, Sverige,Gothenburg, Sweden
Tickets
