The performative lecture is a result of our collaboration with Chaosdroid and Eva Priečková and based on the text of art theorist, T. J. Demos: The Bureau of Fire: Burning Aesthetics, whose reading forms its central part. The performance was created as a part of the Tl;dr: cycle.
Choreography handles body temperature, its shaking and its swinging in the moment of contact. The stage and sound components of the performance work with the motif of fire, burning, their layering and symbolism as central elements underlining the significance of Demos’ text. In the text, Demos points to the alarming development and consequences of the climate crisis, which articulates through the element of the all-consuming fire against the background of media and virtual spread images of catastrophic fires. He also defines the position taken by the contractor of such images and subsequently of the viewer, emphasizing his distance from the setting for disaster and the impossibility of the image representations to convey the urgency of the situation.
The performance points out that the seemingly “distant” catastrophic fires are in fact not distant, progressing at dizzying speed and destroying everything alive. It appeals to our perverse obsession with Internet-mediated images of a burning planet and puts us right at the heart of the action.
Concept & Visuals: Andrej Žabkay
Sound: Chaosdroid
Choreography: Eva Priečková
Post-production: Denis Kozerawski
Author of essay: T.J. Demos
Text translation & editing: Lukáš Makovický, Ema Hesterová
Voiceover: APART collective
Tl; dr is a literary program of the Batyskaf Project focused on creating audiovisual installations. Batyskaf invites artists from different areas to collaborate, with an emphasis on sound and visual aspects. In this way, Batyskaf aims to promote an artistic fusion that will leave the viewer with the most complex experience possible.
