META-KINETICS | META
man_with_the_knife.jpg

Man with the knife

The video Dream to Recall Forgotten Thoughts thematised by the relationship between mother and a daughter. Mother draws on the wall; she plans an uncertain future, her daughter pantomimically dances a child’s dance. With visual tricks of disappearance and occurrence, they pass from the past to the present and vice versa.

On the wall behind them is a clip from the movie The Great Dictator by Charlie Chaplin. The clip appears in the framed picture in which Adenoid Hynkel has a famous speech to the soldier. The peechightly edited in the way that the word “soldiers” was cut out from the original so that viewers/listeners can even perceive it as being intended for them.

In this way, they can value their moral-ethical principles regarding the content of the speech, which, regardless of time distance, is still relevant today. The content of the speech and the connection between the past and the present constantly stimulated by the interaction of the mother and daughter in the front of the video.

The kinetic sculpture “The Typewriter” becomes the active protagonist, continually exchanging the dialogue with the video. Entering in his active role when the character from the video, Adenoid Hynkel stops talking. The typewriter starts to type on the endless roll of paper words said by Adenoid Hynkel. With the powerful, rhythmic and sharp sound of the keystrokes, it leaves black marks of ink on the white surface of paper in the repetition of the same phrase as stating the power of physicality and not forgetting the obvious.

 

Man With The Knife

Set design
Slovenian National Theater Opera and Ballet, Ljubljana

The choreography is based on the works by Slovenian painter Rihard Jakopič, capturing the moments that witness a remarkable sense of movement and drama. When it comes to interpretation of a certain work of art, it by all means depends on the observer’s personal view, complementing its entirety with his or her experience. Still, Jakopič's studies and paintings are designed to make a call for a careful consideration of the broader context of what we see and offer at the same time an exceptional starting point for the development of a series of events that may lead to a dynamic stage action. The interpretation of the works of art offered by the performance itself, occurs within the seemingly unrelated transitions between the positions in space, physical gestures and forms. The compositional entireties are not literal depictions of Jakopič's works, but rather serve as a basis for creating a new – dance whole, in which neither the dance interprets the music, nor the music plays for the dance, although both of the mentioned elements are drawing from the same source material. (Matjaž Farič)

CREDITS:
Choreographer: Matjaž Farič
Music: Milko Lazar
Video (Behind the Scene): Tjaša Gnezda