Deutsch
Troubling the stage and the body as places of stable representation, Ligia Lewis invites frictions and ruptures into her creative process. Lewis’ performance trilogy “BLUE, RED, WHITE” which HAU presents for the first time en bloc includes “Sorrow Swag” (2014), performed in a saturated blue, “minor matter” (2016), a poetic work illuminated in red, and “Water Will (in Melody)” (2018), a gothic tale set in black and white. “Still Not Still” (2021) evokes a poetic theatrical language against abysmal humour and surrealistic imagery. “A Plot / A Scandal” (2022) points to the scandal of property as understood in racial capitalism. Beyond these performances, HAU will also present the video work “deader than dead” (2020), the sound installation “Complaint, A Lyric” (2023), an artist talk, and a party at CAN.
Program:
Complaint, A Lyric
Audio Work
For “Complaint, A Lyric”, Dixa Ramírez D’Oleo, Sarah Lewis-Cappellari, and Mlondi Zondi have written texts departing from Lewis’ work, which George Lewis Jr. aka Twin Shadow scores. The sound installation is available at HAU2 and online on HAU4.
Wed, Nov 15 – Sat, Nov 18, 18-22h
deader than dead
Video Work
The video work “deader than dead” is based on an investigation into the irony and distance induced by the deadpan, a comically deployed impassive attitude. From this form of immobility, Lewis first developed a choreography for 10 dancers who remained expressively flat or dead, resisting any narrative or figurative hold. The video installation is available at HAU2.
Wed, Nov 15 – Sat, Nov 18, 18-22h, HAU2
Sorrow Swag
Performance
“Sorrow Swag” is the first part of Ligia Lewis’ trilogy “BLUE, RED, WHITE”– a triptych that deals with affect and embodiment, as well as race and representation.
Wed, Nov 15 & Thu, Nov 16, 19h, HAU3
minor matter
Performance
In “minor matter” two discursive apparatuses are at play – Blackness and the black box. In this piece, Ligia Lewis turns to the colour red to materialize thoughts between love and rage. It is the second part of the trilogy “BLUE, RED, WHITE”.
Wed, Nov 15, 20:30h, Sat, Nov 18, 19h, HAU2
Water Will (in Melody)
Performance
“Water Will (in Melody)” is a devised choreographic work for four performers using melodrama as a point of departure. Wrestling with language and notions of “the will”, this dystopic fantasy becomes a space for negotiating desire, imagination, and feelings of an encroaching end.
Thu, Nov 16, 20:30h, HAU2
Still Not Still
Performance
Full of dark humour and surrealist imagery, Ligia Lewis’ work “Still Not Still” evokes with poetic force a unique theatrical language, disrupting any fantasy of historical progress. The choreographic composition for seven performers deals with the centuries-old and ongoing exclusions of black and non-white people from the historical record.
Fri, Nov 17, 19h & Sun, Nov 19, 17h, HAU1
A Plot / A Scandal
Performance
The word “plot” refers not only to the action of a story but also to a piece of land, depending on the context. It can also be a verb: to scheme, possibly endangering the existing order – which has led Ligia Lewis to position scandal as a cultural manifestation.
Sat, Nov 18, 20:30h, HAU2
