MEDIATHEK

The stage direction ‘Enter Ghost’ from Shakespeare’s Hamlet is the point of departure for this project. The instruction is paradoxical: how can we make a ghost – an invisible and undeterminable force – appear on stage? And what is a ghost? Sight has become the privileged sense for our empirical interpretation of the world. According to the logic of our ‘scientific eye’, that which is not directly or indirectly ‘visible’ does not exist. What if we included ghosts in our perceived material reality? What if we no longer assigned ghosts a place in our fictional fantasy world, but rather saw them as a tangible, material and sociological force? How real is our imagination? In Enter Ghost Nicole Beutler aims to create space for the unnameable, the poetic and the inexplicable.

THE BOOK: THE SENSATION IS REAL

Nicole Beutler published the book The Sensation is Real in parallel with the performance Enter Ghost. It was developed as an independent artwork in close collaboration with typographer Connie Nijman. Connecting disciplines such as literature, philosophy, photography, theology and alchemy, it is a poetic journey through a personal archive of ghostly potential. Countless historical references to séances, spiritism and fairies stand alongside thoughts on Noh theatre, as well as the Shakespearean proposals of the supernatural. De Appel, the institute for contemporary art in Amsterdam, invited Beutler to create a performative book presentation to present the ideas that surround the book in an informal and performative context. This ‘hypnotic tour’ was later adapted for another location: the old office building of the Festival KAMMERmachen in Chemnitz, where it was performed with special guest DJ Alec Smart.

// Credits //

Concept/ choreography: Nicole Beutler
Made in collaboration with: Hester van Hasselt, Esther Snelder, Sanja Mitrovic (performers),Gary Shepherd (music)
Dramaturgy: Igor Dobricic
Lichtign design/scenography: Minna Tiikkainen
Costume: Jessica Helbach

Book: Nicole Beutler, Connie Nijman(typografie)
Contributors: André Lepecki, Bob Bishop, Laurens van der Heijden, Mark Poysden, Igor Dobricic

Production: Klaartje Wouters

PR photography: ANJA BEUTLER
Management: Inge Koks
Produced by: LISA
Coproduction: wpZIMMER (Antwerp, Belgium), PACTZollverein (Essen, Germany)

Supported by: FAPK(Den Haag), AFK (Amsterdam)
Registered at Theater Kikker, spring dance / festival, Utrecht in April 2007

[efr] http://www.nbprojects.nl/ https://springutrecht.nl/