Fluchtkunst (DE)
Urban Space
Fluchtkunst
Joachim Hamster Damm, born 1965 in Saalfeld, Germany. Lives in Berlin
Niels Kurvin, born 1975 in Munich, Germany. Lives in Berlin
Matthias Rott, born 1974 in Bernau, Germany. Lives in Berlin
Christiane Kersten, born 1981 in Rostock, Germany. Lives in Berlin
Fluchtkunst is a neologism that could loosely be translated as 'fleeing art'. The
runaway theatre project, a brainchild of German set designer and artist Joachim
Hamster Damm, is what he calls "a theatrical exploration of the repression of art
from the public sphere". Literally fleeing from the institutional frame of museums
or theatres, Fluchtkunst oscillates between theatre company, performance and
installation piece, blending an interest in direct social interaction with a peculiar
passion for 19th century machine-theatre that focuses on an existential conflict
of man and technology and even questions the notion of the functionality of Man.
Fluchtkunst was established in 2003 for the first realization of Mobile Sauna . Now, the sauna is rolling again in the streets of Copenhagen.
Built into the back of a standard truck, the mobile sauna, as its title suggests, is
a perfectly functional sauna with room for up to 16 people. Decorated with heat
resistant figures, the mobile sauna is complete with changing rooms and a bar for refreshments as well as outside tubs and showers. In this way, the sauna spills into its surrounding space, playing music and videos. The mobile sauna is manned by as many as 11 artists in constant action simultaneously serving as operators and performers. The tasks are clearly defined: They work with catering, documentation, technical matters or produce plays, e.g. using the on-board mechanical theatre, a theatrum-mundi-machine.
Visitors are invited to enjoy the nearly 100� C heat of a wooden fire, and in keeping with Finnish tradition the mobile sauna is a space for social interaction, from relaxation to business. The heat, the unusual location and an abundance of bodily physicality and artistic activity makes the mobile sauna an intensely sensual experience for the viewer. But while your regular health club may put you back in shape for the exploitation of the working week, in the Mobile Sauna the viewer becomes a part of a mechanical theatre, and of a utopian society. Some visitors will probably consider fleeing their everyday lives with this art machine and its crew. -AS
Niels Kurvin, born 1975 in Munich, Germany. Lives in Berlin
Matthias Rott, born 1974 in Bernau, Germany. Lives in Berlin
Christiane Kersten, born 1981 in Rostock, Germany. Lives in Berlin
Fluchtkunst is a neologism that could loosely be translated as 'fleeing art'. The
runaway theatre project, a brainchild of German set designer and artist Joachim
Hamster Damm, is what he calls "a theatrical exploration of the repression of art
from the public sphere". Literally fleeing from the institutional frame of museums
or theatres, Fluchtkunst oscillates between theatre company, performance and
installation piece, blending an interest in direct social interaction with a peculiar
passion for 19th century machine-theatre that focuses on an existential conflict
of man and technology and even questions the notion of the functionality of Man.
Fluchtkunst was established in 2003 for the first realization of Mobile Sauna . Now, the sauna is rolling again in the streets of Copenhagen.
Built into the back of a standard truck, the mobile sauna, as its title suggests, is
a perfectly functional sauna with room for up to 16 people. Decorated with heat
resistant figures, the mobile sauna is complete with changing rooms and a bar for refreshments as well as outside tubs and showers. In this way, the sauna spills into its surrounding space, playing music and videos. The mobile sauna is manned by as many as 11 artists in constant action simultaneously serving as operators and performers. The tasks are clearly defined: They work with catering, documentation, technical matters or produce plays, e.g. using the on-board mechanical theatre, a theatrum-mundi-machine.
Visitors are invited to enjoy the nearly 100� C heat of a wooden fire, and in keeping with Finnish tradition the mobile sauna is a space for social interaction, from relaxation to business. The heat, the unusual location and an abundance of bodily physicality and artistic activity makes the mobile sauna an intensely sensual experience for the viewer. But while your regular health club may put you back in shape for the exploitation of the working week, in the Mobile Sauna the viewer becomes a part of a mechanical theatre, and of a utopian society. Some visitors will probably consider fleeing their everyday lives with this art machine and its crew. -AS