Espen Hjort

Stonework is a brand new performance by the Landmarks collective, the collaboration between Mees Borgman (NL) & Espen Hjort. It premiered at the Gaudeamus Festival in Utrecht in september 2022, and is currently touring in the Netherlands and Norway.

 

Stonework is a playful and primitive physical duet between a human performer and a stone from the Hallingskarvet mountain range in Norway. The starting point for the work is the wish to collaborate as equals with the stone and to create a work that is just as engaging for a stone as for a human. This forced us to rethink our approach to theatre and our means of communication. Stonework is about vibration, temperature, force and gravity, and about two bodies trying to become one another. But how do you entertain a stone?

 

Even if the work is stone-centred, we would like to invite a human audience to witness this duet, in the hope that we can all be infected with a bit of stone-ness. Perhaps the stone can teach us about softness? Eventually, our aim is to learn how to coexist with nonhumans in a more empathic way.

 

The work is gentle and playful, part physical performance, part theatrical installation and part composition. Composer Seán ó Dálaigh creates a sound work based on the unique frequencies of the stone performer.

 

Stonework marks the beginning of a series of works created together with Mees under the name Landmarks. This work for stones will be followed by Treework, Mountainwork and several other works. Site-specific editions of Stonework will happen in 2023.

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Credits:

 

Concept: Mees Borgman & Espen Hjort & the stone

Direction: Espen Hjort & the stone

Choreography: Mees Borgman & the stone

Performance: Mees Borgman & the stone

Composition: Seán ó Dálaigh & the stone

Additional music by: Marko Ivic, Mees Borgman

Scenography and light design: Grischa Runge & the stone

Dramaturgy: Floor Cremers & the stone

Kostuum: Martina Bauer

Coaching: Bára Sigfúsdóttir, Marlies Heuer

Scientific advice: dr. Oliver Plümper, Universiteit Utrecht

Technician: Jorick Bronius

Production: Elisia da Silva Martins Peças

Thank you: Koosje Laan, de Veenfabriek, Singel Film, Jasper Smits

 

Stonework is produced by Stg. Skorpetind in coproduction with Gaudeamus Festival. It is created in the context of the In situ/city program of the Ulysses Network, made possible by the generous support of the Norwegian Arts Council, the Dutch Performing Arts Fund, Stichting Melanie, the City of Utrecht, Stichting Dioraphte and the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds.