The drama(turgy) of non-belonging : Jeroen Coppens in dialogue with Motus on sharing identity in panorama

A

How images survive (in) theatre : on the lives of images in Rabih Mroué’s the pixelated revolution and three posters

This article analyses two theatre pieces by Rabih Mroué as statements and reflections about how images work. “The Pixelated Revolution” (2012) and “Three Posters” (2000) are lecture-performances that probe the power of images in the context of war. Both performances use images “on the brink” of death, the first showing gripping footage from demonstrators in the Syrian civil war and the latter integrating a real video testimony of a Lebanese suicide bomber into the theatre piece. These precarious images between life and death are used to theorise the image in an alternative way. Specifically, Mroué stages the image as self-critical metapictures, as has been theorized by W. J. T. Mitchell. Furthermore, Mroué treats the images as if they were actors, as if they had a life, a death, and ghostly (re)appearances of their own. This relates to Mitchell’s later approach, looking at images as living organisms. If images are alive, what lives do they lead, both within and beyond the theatre

The image as an event : the lives of images in M.#10 Marseille and So Little Time

An image is commonly thought of as having a flat, two-dimensional surface. However, numerous historical and contemporary artworks have successfully challenged this misleading presumption by exploring alternative ways of creating spatial and temporal images, such as the tableau vivant, holographic imaging technology and, most recently, immersive virtual environments. In line with this tendency, contemporary theatre and performance artists also play a role in expanding the definition of the image. This article analyses two contemporary theatre performances that stage the image as an event, as they ‘expand’ the image by bestowing on it the specific spatial and temporal logic of a theatrical event. Specifically, we consider how Romeo Castellucci’s M.#10 Marseille (2004) and Rabih Mroué’s So Little Time (2016) each in theirown way bring images to life within the theatre, exploring the self-reflexive and magical aspects of images, both within and outside the theatre

‘Ik ben fervent voor culturele globalisering’

Matthias Lilienthal volgde in 2015 Johan Simons op als intendant van de Kammerspiele in München. Hij kwam aan het roer van een van de prominentste Duitse stadstheaters, met een vaste ensemblestructuur en een sterke focus op repertoire. Lilienthal wilde een duidelijke vernieuwing doorvoeren: de traditionele ensemble- en repertoirewerking combineren met onafhankelijke en internationale coproducties. Na twee seizoenen blikt hij terug op dat experiment, en tegelijkertijd kijken we vooruit naar hoe het stadstheater van de toekomst er in de Europese context kan uitzien