Touching the Void: Rambert Collides with Birtwistle to Reawaken
Lost London Icon for InTRANSIT 2011
InTRANSIT 2011 will be launched by a one-off, site-responsive
theatre experience at the former Commonwealth Building, Kensington
15-17 July [tickets: www.rbkc.gov.uk/InTRANSIT].
Common Sounds: Touching the Void will be the only major artistic
event to be staged at this iconic modernist structure since it was
closed in 2002. The building is scheduled to open as the new Design
Museum in 2014.
Through a scission of sound art, contemporary dance, promenade
theatre, modern opera and art installations, this event will
transport participants into an immersive and fully interactive
theatre experience unlike any other. Realising Common Sounds are an
impressive group of collaborators from Rambert Dance Company –
including rising star Dane Hurst - Opera Holland Park and the
London Contemporary Orchestra. Also contributing will be an
international collection of artists and performance art
practitioners from New York, Moscow, Spain, Bosnia Herzegovena and
across the UK, including urban sound-art group the Neofuturist
Collective and composer and co-founder of contemporary performance
group [rout], Paul Newland.
At times roped together, the audience by turn find themselves
caught in a war, transported to an eerie inside garden and haunted
by phantoms from the building’s history. The performance culminates
with a dramatic rendering of Birtwistle’s The Corridor, based on
the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice – played in full on the Friday
night but remaining only as an echo on the Saturday. Directly
inspired by the past and the future of the building – at one stage
birdsong from 53 different species fills the space, representing
the 53 Commonwealth nations – the theme of movement percolates the
performance, referencing the main InTRANSIT programme (full listings available here).
Harry Ross, producer of Common Sounds, Touching the Void and
Co-Director of Fruit for the Apocalypse, says: “The Royal Borough
of Kensington and Chelsea have provided an innovative framework
which has allowed a diverse group of artists and organisations to
come together to create new work in this iconic building that has
been closed for so many years. The specially-commissioned piece
‘Common Sounds, Touching the Void’, will present a thought
provoking and entertaining series of works thematically unified by
responses to the intricate interior of the Commonwealth Institute.
It is a unique chance to discover and explore one of the Royal
Borough’s most secretive buildings in its current state before it
is reborn as a building in the public realm once again.”
Now in its fourth year, InTRANSIT (22-31 July, launch: 15-17
July) is the only festival to move its audience physically as well
as mentally. Participate rather than spectate as a programme of
site-specific contemporary arts events linked by the theme of
movement take place across the Royal Borough – in some cases
literally taking the audience on a journey around the area –
opening up Kensington and Chelsea’s iconic, public and hidden
spaces and places in unexpected ways.
Highlights from InTRANSIT 2011 include
- explore Brompton Cemetery as part of a wolf pack. Be prepared
to be sung to, sniffed at and rubbed against—respectfully but
uncompromisingly! Join WOLF and experience a story that is at once
utterly contemporary and mythically ancient.
- hop on the N11 Night Bus for a journey with a difference as
pre-recorded artist audio combines with landmarks on the route.
Take the return journey from Liverpool Street for the full
experience.
- seated in a wheelchair and equipped with a video headset,
prepare to have your senses hijacked in the most immersive video
theatre performance to date, brought to you by artist duo Il Pixel
Rosso.
- seek out the Holland Park Orangery and take part in a promenade
performance based on “La Peau de Chagrin”, the 19th century novel
by Honoré de Balzac. Be transported to the freezing garrets,
gambling dens and sordid boudoirs of 19th Century Paris in this
Faustian tale of gratification and desire.
Full listings at: www.rbkc.gov.uk/InTRANSIT