Manifest United
– an anthology of changing ideas
PREMIERE: April 5th 2018 at Black Box Theatre in Oslo
As we dig into artists’ manifestos of the last 100 years, we throw ourselves into a hurricane of changing ideas, transformations and artistic envisions. It deals with nothing less than a revolution. The artists’ manifestos are eccentric, without reason, even scandalous as they combine humour, wisdom and alarming demands. Artists’ Manifestos United will be a cacophony of voices from diverse art forms.
You can hardly find a better place for utopian dreams anywhere but in the arts, as it stumbles forward, frail and unsteady at its feet. Art is living proof of everything which makes us human. Art is the last bastion, one worth fighting for. Art is an unequivocal alternative to individualism and indifference.
Backdrop
What happened to the artists’ manifestos? What caused artists to stop making them? With these questions as starting point we embarked upon reading manifestos and art in theory from the last 100 years. I seem to have forgotten the explosive power latent in these texts, so exaggeratedly theatrical, revolutionary and outrageous, all at the same time. The manifestos demand something from us, they demand something of the world, and they demand it now. It is a lingual and ideological fight for our reality, filled with pathos, poetry and megalomania. Some are deeply serious, some just bizarre, while others balance between being revolutionary and speaking in jest. The manifestos and their view of the world are often strongly political, and at the same time they show a deep love for life; throughout, there is a trail of stoic optimism, an optimism so life-affirming, hallucinating, even utopian. Whether we will find any answers to our questions, I am not sure, but it feels as if we fell into a mine filled with gold, sulphur and phosphor.
Reading these manifestos, they are recognisable to the point of self-revealing. We realise where we are coming from, which art movements we are part of, and what pioneers we acknowledge. As we critically examine our own idols, we strive to redefine and intensify our own view of art, until this performance in itself becomes our own jabbering, hallucinating and animated manifesto.
By and with: Saila Hyttinen, Fredrik Hannestad, Anders Mossling, Signe Becker, Per Platou, Tilo Hahn, Solveig Laland Mohn, Espen Klouman Høiner, Håkon Mathias Vassvik, Lea Basch, Kjersti Alm Eriksen, Jon Refsdal Moe, Pernille Mogensen. Supported by: Arts Council Norway. Co-produced by: Black Box teater (Oslo), Teaterhuset Avant Garden (Trondheim), BIT -Teatergarasjen (Bergen).
Texts: Dogme 95, Manifesto (1995). Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Futurist Manifesto (1908). Mina Loy, Futuristiske aforismer (1914). Antonio Artaud, Manifesto for a Theatre That Failed (1926). Gilbert & George, What our art means (1970). Lebbeus Woods, Manifesto (1993). Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Maintenance Art Manifesto (1969). Claes Oldenburg, I Am for an Art (1961). Stanley Brouwn, A short manifesto (1964). Andy Warhol, Interview (1963).
Music: Alvin Lucier, Antonio Vivaldi, Edvard Grieg, Freesound, Hans Zimmer, Henry Purcell, Jean Sibelius, Joxaren, Per Platou, Pete Seeger, Talleiv Roysland.
Thanks to: Iver Findlay, Yolanda Cesta Cursach, David Giese (Joxaren), Antti Bjørn, Anders Hamre, Rom for dans, KHiO, Teater Manu, Ida Uvaas.
Photo: Camilla Jensen, Verk Produksjoner