Catalogue > At random

The small german City of Mönchengladbach, a former textile industry hub, redefines its commercial and cultural centre by removing the modernist theatre building, abandoned during the past decade, and replacing it with a shopping mall. This constant process of producing space comes to a temporary halt when a group of citizens enters the winterly void to claim and re-stage the public discourse on appropriation of urban space: ?There ought not to be a vacuum which might attempt to lead us to the idea of the void as potentiality.? state-theatre is a series of six experimental documentaries that explore urban conditions for performance based on six case studies in Lagos, Tehran, Berlin, Detroit, Beirut and Mönchengladbach. state-theatre departs from places that have shed their apparent societal functions: deserted areas, construction sites, unused or reinterpreted buildings ? empty spaces in the urban fabric, places that were originally meant as allegoric gathering places: theaters.

Daniel Kötter ist ein international tätiger Filmemacher und Musiktheater-Regisseur. Seine Arbeiten changieren zwischen verschiedenen medialen und institutionellen Kontexten. Sie wurden weltweit auf zahlreichen Film- und Videokunstfestivals, in Galerien, Theatern und Konzerthäusern gezeigt. Zu seinen Hauptwerken zählen neben experimentellen Videokonzertperformances (mit Hannes Seidl) die Mehrkanal-Trilogie Arbeit und Freizeit (2009-2011) sowie die Film-, Performance- und Diskursreihe state-theatre über die Bedingungen des Performativen in den Städten Lagos, Teheran, Berlin, Detroit, Beirut, Mönchengladbach (mit Constanze Fischbeck). Constanze Fischbeck was born in 1968 in Berlin. She works as stage designer and video artist. Her artwork is based on the space and present of specific locations. In her films she investigates the interference of documentary and staged moments in the urban context. Her work was presented at various festivals, art institutes and theatres.