#hobmeier

[thepublicspaceprogramme-blo-blog]

The guidelines for each rule-set are as follows:

4 to 5 rules

Instigating an experiment that relates to public space

The rules should excite you, and inspire in you a desire to see the outcome

As part of last years residency The Public Space Programme commissioned a series of rule-sets by internationally renowned artists dealing with public space in some way. Click here to download them or send us an email to buy the book.

[thepublicspaceprogramme-blo-blog]

Interview with Georg Hobmeier

Performance artist Georg Hobmeier donated one of the rule-sets that formed the basis of the Reykjavík Public Space Programme's residency.

I had the great fortune of working with Mr. Hobmeier while still attending the Royal Scottish Academy in Glasgow, where he, as part of his visiting lectureship, directed a performance installation called UNIT. Tackling questions of submission and authority, UNIT led the audience and performers through a series of chambers or compartments where in some cases the performers brandished mp3-players that seemed to govern their actions.

Commands coming from a foreign, electrical apparatus and controlling the body, whether it be a music player or electrodes, has become somewhat of a thing for you Mr. Hobmeier, where did it all start?

Georg Hobmeier: “My older work is very much informed by the idea of computer generated choreography and control, very much based on the use of technology.” He explains, “Originally we wanted the choreography itself to be controlled by a computer program which would then send dancers around, focusing on the pattern being created in a city…” “You say originally?” I interrupt; “Yes… Something went wrong – basically the funding for the project. Then we thought about cheaper solutions and this resulted in a massive, massive trend! One might see it as a downgrade but this downgrade actually resulted in the use of mp3-players and in some ways it went even further like in UNIT where the idea of receiving a command was in the foreground.”

Other works by Mr. Hobmeier and his associates also engage in the dialectics of power. Waveform, a solo performance for a dancer's body controlled by himself and a set of wireless electrodes; Frontiers, a multiplayer game where you take on the role of a refugee or a border patroller on the edges of "Fortress Europe"; and Area, a performative argument confronting the patterns of an urban space. I took part in one of the Area workshops a while back but the newest installment to the series, areaGlobal, sees participants in five countries across the world follow a audio track consisting of movement instruction exactly at the same time. In what way has your relationship to this technology developed over the years?

GH: “The basic principle of AREA is that you encounter someone [taking commands from a mp3-player] and then you follow this person, observing them by choosing your own perspective. This was our basic aim. In the two following projects that we are working on now, Verlorung and Labyrinth, there have been a few changes. I think Labyrinth is a good example of how the AREA ‘game’ evolved because it removed the strong physical presence of the performers to, let’s say, a degree of 80%. There is a little bit of performance left – which is very subtle – but it is much more about the experience of the audience and suggestions they receive themselves via mp3 or radio.”

What does that mean for the reading of the piece?

GH: “Well, it becomes a game of suggestion, a narrative overlay that redefines the perception of the people concerning the city and this is a very subtle and almost invisible thing. Something that I actually quite like.”

When performing the areaGlobal score, I couldn’t help to wonder about the level of confrontation ingrained in the structure of the performance. Any comment?

GH: “Yes I agree with that. I am just in the middle of editing some audio for the second part of yet another area project called Fast-forward and its melancholic rewind and there is tons of confrontation in the recording. Interestingly enough you get a little more information when listening to the thing rather then seeing it, you get a good sense of the disturbance it creates. Also, I like the conflict that it creates for the bourgeois, middle-class audience that likes to follow us on our little journeys and I had a nice afternoon listening to screaming Turkish teenagers who were throwing the vilest insults at us while we tried to stay in a very stoic and concentrated mood of performance.”

Sounds like a great afternoon, but what about positive audience participation, there must have been some?

GH: “There are several but I would like to take one very particular example. I went to my hometown to make a version of “Fast-forward…” Now, Tyroleans are a very particular bunch, very open and direct but they have kept a form of curiosity, in their hidden valley at the end of the World. When we went to a large mall that had just opened we did a very simple choreography with hands, very precise. And suddenly everyone, there must have been a hundred people, started to join in. For a moment there was a large change in the social structure and the behaviour of these people.”

Like a flashmob of sorts?

GH: “It didn’t have the nature of a flashmob, it wasn’t determined, it was ephemeral and it had a spontaneous yet choreographed.

Another thing that I was drawn to during the Area experience was the element of visibility, and on the Area website there is a mention of the visibility/invisibility border, would you care to elaborate on that?

GH: “For Area, me and Tommy [Noonan, dancer and director] came up with this scale of how to categorise and perceive our material in order to work on the dramaturgy. Basically it is a two-dimensional graph, which has two axes. Axis nr. 1 relates to the invisible vs. the visible; axis nr. 2, crossing through that, ranges from readable to unreadable – this is called the WTF-scale. Area developed over a long time and had lots of different places but it had a one-dimensional nature. The performers, with their sports gear on, were very visible. The idea of blending in was not yet considered as an option as we were busy with the movement part and how to experience the city. But when we did performances with larger groups we considered the question ‘what does it mean to blend in?’ How can you be part of an environment, you know? We became aware of costumes, dressing up, as a tool. I am quite fond bold physical action, and Tommy Noonan is very fond of very small, discreet actions that cannot be perceived and this is basically what constitutes the scale. It’s not about right and wrong. It’s like a modulator; it really changes the energy of the performance.”

In areaGlobal, participants from three continents execute commands from an audio track simultaneously, what has been the initial feedback from that event?

GH: “To use a very simplistic American phrase: I think everyone had a great time. I know that some had problems with the instructions, but it wasn’t originally meant for people who had never done it… I know the people in Bangalore had a really strong experience. We in Buenos Aires also had very strong experience but that was also because everyone was very experienced and so the material functioned quite well. It was also interesting to experience the city from a totally different perspective.”

Do you think choreographical work like this contributes differently to the politics of a certain location?

GH: “Well I mean, public space has very different dimensions, I don’t know if I would call them political but it’s more on a social level – how do people inhabit these spaces and what are the so called rules?”

So there is at least a socio-political aspect to the work...

GH: “Yes maybe, well, this example is not so much about areaGlobal but this was during rehearsals of “Fast-forward…” we did a track in front of the holy halls of opera at high season and so the police was around. The inner city drunks and junkies were also around. But there we were, doing a weird mix of going back and forth, elaborate synchronised motions and really erratic behaviour. The police basically read it ‘ahh, this is from the festspiele [theatre festival] it’s art.’ But the junkies were really amazed that we were allowed to do that, “why are they not getting arrested” they kept saying, “when we do that we get arrested!””

Haha, in any case you seem to be striking a chord with the socio-politically displaced. What’s next? AreaIntergalactic?

GH: “The thought of moving in different dimensions is interesting, but no,” he laughs, “I want to repeat areaGlobal and make a version that is more accessible and then spread it a little bit further. I want to create a technical frameset making it easier for people to upload material themselves. I’m not interested in making art that is really ‘something’, unique, bold art that the critics love. I would love to start a trend. One can only hope! What we will do, we will develop more hybrid forms, between theatre and audio. Further than that, no plans for different planets, but you never know what comes up!”

Well that’s all; thank you Mr. Hobmeier for taking the time to answers these questions. I hope we meet again soon.

GH: “I thank you for these questions Mr. Jonsson, and to the reader: I wish you a very good day… night… or morning.”

Interviewed by Sigurdur Jonsson