SHORT VERSION
cast(s) is a mourning ritual for queer ancestors. zozoTransistor seeks the (invented) histories of public and private spaces and tells them through and for all senses. This performance equally addresses audiences with a desire for sensual entertainment as well as discourse-oriented audiences.
LONG VERSION
cast(s) is a mourning ritual for queer ancestors. cast(s) celebrates and invents absurd relations between the dynamics of the art market, re-enacted horse dressage YouTube videos, recommendations on why it makes more sense to put on your underwear with the backside facing forward, and mystical atmospheres.
In this sound-dance-visual mosaic of the broken and the comical, an idea of the possible legacy of queer ancestors, whose insights and experiences have not been woven into the dominant heteronormative narrative, opens up through quiet listening.
zozoTransistor's co-actors are large paper sculptures, the cast(s). Before the performance, they are molded from the surface of the respective performance space - in other words, they are a kind of doubling of the skin of the space. Likewise, zozoTransistor examines the location in advance for its sound, in order to then draw out the sound for the performance with contact microphones in the live situation. For example from trees, from metal plates, a piano, a wall or a street lamp. During the performance, the cast(s) transform from installation to costume, to dance company, to their own concocted beings. Together with the audience, zozoTransistor sensitively works their way into the skin of the place, asks for its unheard (invented) histories and tells them through and for all senses. In doing so, zozoTransistor repeatedly reveals how the ritual is made, for example by visibly taking care of light and sound as part of the performance.
cast(s) uses absurd-comical breaks and an interweaving of sensory impressions in order to dismember hierarchies of meaning and to tell them backwards like a joke.
The constant reinvention and exploration of relations and kinship leads to an ecstatic frenzy of zozoTransistor and the cast(s). And in the audience to a pleasurable and/or funny opening of perception towards unfamiliar phenomena.
cast(s) was developed over the course of a year through 7 try-outs at different locations in Switzerland and Ghana.
The idea was to give the audience a
right of co-determination in the formation of the performance, a bit like an open-source program.
A first complete version was produced in summer 2021 under the title Day 8_Open Source Creations for the Vielfest Festival in a forest in Worb and as an
in-house production shown in an attic at Stadtlabor Bern.
The cast(s) paper sculptures were developed in collaboration with Ghanaian artist Samuel Baah Kortey.
The performance can be played in English or German.
Concept and realization:
zozoTransistor
Photos and video: Olivia Schenker
TECH RIDER
The piece can be played in any location indoor or outdoor. The location is given an important role in the performance.
Needed:
‣a PA
‣the possibility to hang several cords at a height of about 2m
‣audience seating (there is a possibility for us to bring 29 black painted wooden chairs sawed off to different heights and 20 sitting cushions)
‣2 dimmable spotlights on tripods
‣If outdoor: weather protection for sound and light
‣Cable reels to the nearest power outlet
‣One day preparation time at the site to cast paper shapes and look for sound. The paper sculptures are made with the help of starch, surfaces will be protected with plastic sheets.
‣Duration approx. 50min.
‣Performance installation: 2hrs
‣Performance dismantling: 30min.