DIY OR DIE
Title: DIY or DIE
Year: 2017
Duration: 5 days
Genre: vaudeville in 5 parts with 5 extensions
Commissioned by: Eclat Festival Stuttgart
Supported by: Hansmann-Poethen Stipend, Musik der Jahreshundert adn Literaturhaus Stuttgart
DIY or DIE: vaudeville
introduction
part 1 sky
part 2 bullet
part 3 free hugs
part 4 selfie heroes
part 5 riot
DIY or DIE: real-life extensions
extension 1 riot
extension 2 selfie heroes
extension 3 free hugs
extension 4 bullet
extension 5 sky
Form details:
Vaudeville
Duration: 40 minutes
Venue: standard theatre stage (medium size)
Instrumentation: 1 performer, 1 dancer, trumpet solo, ensemble (clarinet, bassoon, violin, e-bass, percussion)
Media: electronics, video and light projection
Material: wall made of paper boxes (dimension ca 7 m x 4 m), paintball bunker “M” (dimension ca 6 m x 3 m), swing, portable green screen set, handhold banners and placards
Costumes: black and white urban style outfits
Extensions
extension 1 riot
Duration: short intervention, up to several minutes
Genre: riot
Lineup: political activists
Venue: foyer or/and stage of the theatre. Riot should interfere with the vaudeville performance
extension 2 selfie heroes
Duration: several days according to the opening hours
Genre: selfie booth
Lineup: passersby
Venue: shopping mall near by theatre house
extension 3 free hugs
Duration: several hours according to the festival/event planning
Genre: performance
Lineup: 1 performer
Venue: foyer of the theatre, surrounding of the theatre (place in front, surrounding streets)
extension 4 sky
Duration: 30 minutes
Genre: audio-walk with music performance
Instrumentation: music band, local performance artist
Venue: rooftop of the highest building in the city
extension 5 bullet
Duration: depending on the amount of registered players (from 1 hour to whole day within opening hours)
Genre: paintball game
Lineup: 1 performer, 2 paintball teams, players
Venue: paintball hall
introduction
Video introduction displayed on the wall made of paper cardboard boxes.
Voice (off stage) explains the story of the Millennial generation and the role that the fall of Berlin wall played in forming Millennial generation.
vaudeville
introduction
fall of the wall after video introduction
introduction
big “M” - original paintball balloon and the characters starring in the piece - the “Millennials”
part 2 selfie hero
“Selfie nation, millennial generation”!
Part 2 thematizes “beauty” in the modern society. Prinz (the dancer) dances to music in the “voguing” style, imitating the characteristic poses struck by a model on a catwalk.
extension 1 riot
First real-life extension entitled “riot” is a short intervention on stage - is an activists’ statement. Invited by the artist, Green party activists could use the stage to manifest their opinion. The activists could use the stage as they wanted. Nothing here was staged nor controlled so that theatre served as open public space: as free space for free people.
Vaudeville stage has served as a “free platform” and this was the only moment when the two worlds - the performative world (vaudeville) and the real world (activists) mixed in real time together.
Second real-life extension entitled “selfie-heroes” is a DIY customized photo booth (as one can find at the weddings or corporation parties). In the foyer of the theatre audience could visit the booth with customized backdrop and props (all props in the photo booth are integrated with aesthetic of the set design (vaudeville) and video introduction (vaudeville)). Every visitor could play with props and pose to take an instant self-portrait. Each printed, signed “diy or diy” could be taken home as a memory or little diy-made artwork.
Third real-life extension entitled “free hugs” was a short performance - the artist in the “pierrot” costume was walking around the theatre offering free hugs.
The fourth extension was an audio walk and performance on the rooftop of the highest building of the city. Each visitor had to climb the stairs to the highest floor. The tour guide was instructing the audience to focus and to listen carefully to increased heartbeat. After climbing to stairs everyone could see breath taking view with the panorama of entire city and listen to gentle songs.
The fifth extension is a paintball game. A professional team was guiding and introducing participants to the rules of the game and the ethics of the behaviour on the playground.
