ABSOLUTE PINA
Photo exhibition on Pina Bausch and Tanztheater Wuppertal by Gert Weigelt
13 June – 31 August 2008
Since 1975, the year of breakthrough for Pina Bausch with her Sacre du Printemps, I have documented Tanztheater Wuppertal with my camera, photographing the original cast of every production or “piece” in Pina Bausch’s own words (37 pieces in all). This exhibition completes the circle.
The first time I heard the name Pina Bausch was during my years as a dancer in Stockholm (1967-1972). Colleagues in the Cullberg Ballet with experience from the Jooss/Folkwang/Essen scene told me about this great talent and exceptional personality. In 1972 she made a guest appearance at Scalateatern in Stockholm with dance partner and choreographer Jean Cebron. But not until more than five years later as I went from being a dancer to a photographer did it really click for me. Pina Bausch was then newly appointed director of Tanztheater Wuppertal.
Naturally it is impossible to present a whole life’s work like Pina Bausch’s in a photo exhibition. Instead of trying to find a documentary point of view the photography should convey another virtue: the autonomy of artistry.
My aim was always to capture the essence of the entire choreography in one single photograph. Indeed an utopian thought but a necessity if one wishes to uphold the absolute claim of one’s work. In this exhibition I have tried to replace the autonomy of the single picture with the synergy of the ensemble in diptychs, triptychs and image sequences.
Photography is an education of the gaze that can help experience a piece by Pina Bausch in a new, fresh, intense way.
Gert Weigelt
More about Pina Bausch...
Pina Bausch is one of the most important cult figures of our time, with an immense influence on the development of the contemporary dance and theatre scene, together with other important names as Peter Brook, Peter Stein, Ariane Mnouchkine and Patrice Chéreau.
Since Pina Bausch moved to Wuppertal and started her Tanztheater Wuppertal in 1973, dance or theatre has not been the same. Theatre has been liberated from text and voice and the notion of dance has been turned upside down. “Everything we do is dance, although it might not be visible,” she has answered those who have questioned: is it dance? “Ein Stück von Pina Bausch” is what she very simply calls her works, tanztheater, dance theatre yes, but not ballet or choreography or a theatre production. A piece put on stage, without the traditional narrative frame, instead using the technique of the collage or montage with fragments of body movement, speech, song and music, mixed in a kaleidoscopic world of images, violent, funny, anxiety-ridden, drastic… but very humanand very touching. Audiences tend to either leave during her “seances” or remain like paralysed. No one stays untouched.
Pina Bausch and her Tanztheater Wuppertal appeared for the first time in Sweden in 1984 and had an immediate and immense impact on Swedish theatre directors and choreographers, like in every other country where her company has visited.
With his camera Gert Weigelt has had the unique opportunity to follow Pina Bausch and her dancers throughout all the years, photographing every one of her 38 pieces. The exhibition this summer at Dansmuseet completes the circle.
“Naturally it is impossible to present a whole life’s work like Pina Bausch’s in a photo exhibition,” says Gert Weigelt.”Instead of trying to find a documentary point of view the photography should convey another virtue: the autonomy of artistry.
My aim was always to capture the essence of the entire choreography in one single photograph. Indeed an utopian thought but a necessity if one wishes to uphold the absolute claim of one’s work. In this exhibition I have tried to replace the autonomy of the single picture with the synergy of the ensemble in diptychs, triptychs and image sequences.Photography is an education of the gaze that can help experience a piece by Pina Bausch in a new, fresh, intense way.”
With his very personal gaze Gert Weigelt has become one of the foremost photographic interpreters of the contemporary stage. In 2002 we presented his thrilling exhibition body & soul. We are happy to welcome him back.
www.pina-bausch.de
www.gert-weigelt.de
www.tanznetz.de |
