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MCB-TV-3276

Fight Club: A Chorus

POST THEATER has created a manual to conduct a performance titled “Fight Club: A Chorus”. POST THEATER has commissioned artists to implement this manual and create the performance that is described / prescribed in this manual. The concept of the “mass-performance” prescribes 48 performers on stage out of which 42 are professionals of non-artistic professions (ideally corporate work-force / “cubicle workers”) and 6 are professionals in the performing arts (performers / directors / choreographers).

The goal of the performance is to connect artists with non-artists and create a process that destabilizes mutual stereotypes as well as the perception of the own workplace. There is no fighting involved. The novel / movie “Fight Club” (by Chuck Palahniuk / David Fincher) is not important for the project – the source’s idea of forming a subversive group is.

“Fight Club: A Chorus” challenges the question of identity on two levels.

1) the participants’ professional lives influence the form and content of the piece.

2) the theatrical situation of audience and performers and their relationship

This switch of roles and the urge to find alternatives to the everyday life in the consumer society are the core of the source of inspiration “Fight Club”.

The technical principle behind the performance is a programmed (with the software MAX/MSP) vertical video projection (floor projection) tht guides the participants through a choreography. Additional texts and sounds are prompted via speakers. All is filmed from a vertical camera and projected live to a screen. Media art provides orientation, serves as the only lighting source and creates a space.

The performance premiered in Singapore under the artistic direction of Daniel Kok at the National Museum of Singapore (November 2007).

The Berlin version in October / November 2008 involved the non-artistic staff of the State Opera Berlin. In this case, POST THEATER followed its own instructions, having 6 local artists on board.