Mette Ingvartsen

21 pornographies

Mette Ingvartsen sitting on the floor, wearing black pants and no shirt, putting her fist in her mouth

Photo: Marc Domage

Tu 16.10.2018, 20:00-21:00, MDT

We 17.10.2018, 20:00-21:00, MDT

Writing a novel about libertinage from his prison cell in 1785, Marquis de Sade declared that the nature of human passions authorizes crime. This moment in Western modernity marks the moral ambivalence in the bind between sexual liberation and power. While the legalization of pornography in Denmark in 1967 expanded the erotic freedom towards more gender equality, pornography today includes a politically wide range of expressions and uses, from queer and feminist stances to sexualized torture in war. The key to the affective power of pornography lies perhaps in the very root of the word: pernanai (Greek) = “to sell.” It explains how the pornographic “money-shot” operates in the climactic effects of “breaking news,” in the explosivity of action scenes or in brutality of authentic war porn.

Starting from the idea that pornography has leaked into many areas of society, Mette Ingvartsen explores the operations of the pornographic through a collection of erotic and affective materials. Most of them have little to do with explicit sex, yet they show some characteristics of the pornographic: expressions of cruelty, clinical precision, violence and pain, but sometimes also of laughter, excitement and thrill. By mixing physical action with narrative descriptions, a speculative choreography is created. The experiences that the viewer might undergo in this performance extend from imaginary to intense visceral sensations.

Mette Ingvartsen

Mette Ingvartsen is a Danish choreographer and dancer. From 1999 she studied in Amsterdam and Brussels where she in 2004 graduated from P.A.R.T.S. Her first performance “Manual Focus”(2003) was made while she was still studying. Since then she has initiated several research projects and made numerous performances, among others “50/50” (2004), “to come” (2005), “Why We Love Action” (2006), “It’s in The Air” (2008) “GIANT CITY” (2009) and “All the way out there…”(2011).

Questions of kinesthesia, perception, affect and sensation have been crucial to most of her work. Recently her interest has turned towards thinking choreography as an extended practice.

In 2014 she started a new cycle of work entitled “The Red Pieces”. “69 positions” opened this series and questioned the borders between private and public space, by literally placing the naked body in the middle of the theater public. In the second piece, “7 pleasures”, a group of 12 performers confronted notions of nudity, body politics and sexual practice.

Besides her performance work she is engaged in research. Her practice involves writing, making, performing and documenting work. She teaches and gives workshops often related to developing methodologies within choreographic practices.

Mette Ingvartsen is finishing a PhD in choreography at UNIARTS in Sweden. She is in this context researching the relationship between artist writing and artistic practice, using her own work and writing as a way to experiment with these relations. She has worked as a performer in projects of Jan Ritsema / Bojana Cvejic, Xavier Le Roy and Boris Charmatz. www.metteingvartsen.net

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Concept, Choreography and Performance

Light Design

Sound Design

Dramaturgy

Techincal Director

Assistant Choreography

Assistants Production

Sound Technician

Company Management

Kerstin Schroth. A production of Great Investment.

Co-production

Volksbühne (Berlin), PACT Zollverein (Essen), Kaaitheater (Brussels), NEXT festival / Kunstencentrum BUDA (Kortrijk), Les Spectacles vivants – Centre Pompidou (Paris), Dansehallerne (Copenhagen), BIT Teatergarasjen (Bergen), Julidans (Amsterdam), CCN2 – Centre chorégraphique national de Grenoble.

With support of

Nanterre-Amandiers, Centre Dramatique National, Musée de la Danse/Centre Chorégraphique National de Rennes et de Bretagne & Kustenwerkplaats Pianofabriek.

Funded by

The Flemish Authorities, The Flemish Community Commission (VGC) & The Danish Arts Council.

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