Jan Machacek
Normarena
“We like to take responsibility, yes, but not for ourselves; we do take responsibility, but we do not leave it with ourselves; whoops, now it has flown over the hedge, the responsibility, now it has toppled, right into unconsciousness.” Gerhild Steinbuch, text excerpt from Normarena
Male, white, heterosexual – these norms still seem to be the best preconditions for social success. In Normarena, an actor privileged as such rebels and attempts to flee his golden cage. But his criticism is in a dilemma right from the start: how can he even question the norms and conventions that have formed him? What will remain if he distances himself from them?
Media and performance artist Jan Machacek creates a spectacular experimental arrangement in Normarena: the actor Max Mayer – very well known in Vienna from the Burgtheater and Schauspielhaus – finds himself in a transparent, rotating apparatus. The human and machine jointly produce language, moving images and music. In the process, visual phenomena come into being that resemble the flickering of a film. The performance machine on stage becomes the projection space for the complex and invisible system of norms and ascriptions that all human beings find themselves exposed to. Yet the actor of Normarena rebels against his normality, the normality which privileges him and allows him to function.
Austrian author Gerhild Steinbuch wrote the text for this piece, developed specifically for this work. It activates the actor’s self-reflexion and subjects the structure between protagonist and the machine’s normative power to a stress test. Normarena is Jan Machacek’s fourth work being shown in brut. machacek.klingt.org
Audience discussion on 11 November following the performance.
Concept, space, director Jan Machacek Performer Max Mayer Text Gerhild Steinbuch Live music, video software Oliver Stotz Dramaturgic advice Judith Staudinger Lights and sounds Jakob Scheid Light Sabine Wiesenbauer Costumes Lise Lendais
A co-production of am apparat/Jan Machacek, brut Wien and SPIELART Festival Munich.
With the kind support of the City of Vienna’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Austria’s Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture.
€ 14/€ 8/€ 6 with the brutkarte*