THEIRLAND

Two concert performances based on neuro science research 

Commissioned composers*: Neo Huelcker & Antonia Baehr aka. Henry Wilde

Performers: Claudia van Hasselt, Julia Mihály, Anna Clementi, Nicolas Wiese, Ferdinand Breil

Research cooperation with: Laboratoire National de Santé Luxembourg (LNS) Department of Neuropathology

The concert performances THEIRLAND I and THEIRLAND II  focus on basic patterns of human behavior under conditions of permanent, latent or manifest fear.
The collective development process was based on the close cooperation with the Laboratoire National de Santé / Luxembourg and the head of the state Neuropathology Prof. Dr. Michel Mittelbronn. Based on research and the insights into the cerebral constraints between amygdala, limbic system and insula, we created together with the guest performers and the two composers* a simultaneously artistic-associative and scientific-founded cartography of defense and survival strategies. The pieces were developed in a process lasting several months, whereby in each case different topics were the focus of the research: Besides psycho-physiological self-experiments by means of the historical martial art of the Bartitsu or Alba Emoting, which were developed in England.

With Alba Emoting, we investigated the possibilities of emotional manipulation through breathing patterns, facial expressions and body tension.
Playfully-theroetically we simulated individually experienced situations of interacting under fear, evaluated our respective ways of reacting and created vocal scores and choreographic-scenic elements. FrauVonDa (Lotte Greschik, Claudia van Hasselt and Nicolas Wiese) developed together with the composer* Neo Hülcker a score of this permanent confrontation, Henry Wilde set accents of possible ways out. The versatile performers Anna Clementi, Julia Mihaly and Claudia van Hasselt acted and improvised between instinct and consciousness, between being at the mercy of others and acting on their own authority within the hippocampus (seahorse) dictatorship visually designed by Nicolas Wiese. THEIRLAND I & II combine familiar and unfamiliar terrain: a vegetation of the drama and tragicomedy of primal human behavior. The respective venues become playing fields of everyday cerebral battles:
The amygdala – the center of fear – sets neurologically determined processes in motion, quasi-dictatorially demanding submission. The performers consciously strive against it – with creativity, wit and community spirit.

▶ VIDEO

Funded by: inm berlin e.V., Fonds Darstellende Künste, Bareva Foundation