Koester, Joachim (DK)
Carlsberg Tap E
Joachim Koester
Born 1962 in Copenhagen, Denmark
Lives in New York and Copenhagen
The installation by Joachim Koester consists of two 16mm film projections: Tarantism (2007) and My Frontier Is an Endless Wall of Points (After the Mescaline Drawings of Henri Michaux) (2007). Tarantism refers to the physical condition caused by a bite from a venomous spider tarantula. The symptoms include nausea, delirium, agitation, restlessness and slurred speech. A traditional remedy has been to play music in tandem with the victim's spasms, allowing the affected individual to dance the poison out of the system in a manic, frenzied dance. This practice continued in the spider's native region of southern Italy from the Middle Ages to the mid-twentieth century. At the same time, the dance offered a mental and physical free zone in an otherwise traditional and restrictive society. Moreover, this wild, frenetic dancing cure evolved into a style of ballroom dance known as the tarantella.
Tarantism is a film featuring a group of dancers whose brief was to re-enact the
original dancing cure, which takes the form of uncontrolled, spasmic movements.
Since it is difficult to dance uncontrollably at will, Koester divided the performance into six separate choreographic sections, each with its own set of instructions for the dancers to follow.
My Frontier Is an Endless Wall of Points (After the Mescaline Drawings of Henri Michaux) consists of a series of drawings or notations made by the Belgian poet and painter Henri Michaux (1899-1984). The drawings are created by the hallucinogenic drug mescaline, which gives access to the concealed past of the unconscious. Like the dance, these drawings have a restless intensity constantly seeking new patterns in a chaotic choreography.
While the Italian harvest workers found freedom in the dire conditions, Michaux
was on an expedition to an unknown inner realm. In both cases a tension builds up between mental and physical-sensual space; a physical form emerging from the unconscious or a new recognition derived from a physical movement. Here lies the rambunctious freedom since nobody knows what is revealed in the delirium. -NH / JS
Lives in New York and Copenhagen
The installation by Joachim Koester consists of two 16mm film projections: Tarantism (2007) and My Frontier Is an Endless Wall of Points (After the Mescaline Drawings of Henri Michaux) (2007). Tarantism refers to the physical condition caused by a bite from a venomous spider tarantula. The symptoms include nausea, delirium, agitation, restlessness and slurred speech. A traditional remedy has been to play music in tandem with the victim's spasms, allowing the affected individual to dance the poison out of the system in a manic, frenzied dance. This practice continued in the spider's native region of southern Italy from the Middle Ages to the mid-twentieth century. At the same time, the dance offered a mental and physical free zone in an otherwise traditional and restrictive society. Moreover, this wild, frenetic dancing cure evolved into a style of ballroom dance known as the tarantella.
Tarantism is a film featuring a group of dancers whose brief was to re-enact the
original dancing cure, which takes the form of uncontrolled, spasmic movements.
Since it is difficult to dance uncontrollably at will, Koester divided the performance into six separate choreographic sections, each with its own set of instructions for the dancers to follow.
My Frontier Is an Endless Wall of Points (After the Mescaline Drawings of Henri Michaux) consists of a series of drawings or notations made by the Belgian poet and painter Henri Michaux (1899-1984). The drawings are created by the hallucinogenic drug mescaline, which gives access to the concealed past of the unconscious. Like the dance, these drawings have a restless intensity constantly seeking new patterns in a chaotic choreography.
While the Italian harvest workers found freedom in the dire conditions, Michaux
was on an expedition to an unknown inner realm. In both cases a tension builds up between mental and physical-sensual space; a physical form emerging from the unconscious or a new recognition derived from a physical movement. Here lies the rambunctious freedom since nobody knows what is revealed in the delirium. -NH / JS