03 Nov - 10 Nov 07 2007




Today we see an ever increasing number of artists exploring the boundaries between various art disciplines. Choreographers work together with visual artists, theatre makers experiment with video and film, artists incorporate performances in their exhibitions, musicians become actors in a play. The results are often quite different from the usual theatrical black box or the white cube of the museum.

With Playground STUK focuses specifically on the interface between visual arts and performing arts. This new international live art festival presents performances, installations and actions which differ from the familiar formats because of their object character and the interaction with the public. Many of these performances are new productions or Belgian premieres of productions from abroad. As part of an international context, the festival Playground cooperates with several international organisations.

Games People Play is the result of a unique cooperation between the visual artists Richard Venlet, Dora García, and theatre company Transquinquennal. A performance in which the lead character is not played by an actor, but by a work of art. The same happens in The Expected, in which a film engages in a dialogue with a group of musicians. Guy de Cointet, for his part, created performances in which the works of art are activated in a sort of soap opera. Cristina Lanco and Bill Aitchison operate in the field of danceperformance, but focus on the object character of events. Davis Freeman, Tanya Hermsen and Heike Schmidt explore the boundary between reality and fiction. In an intimate monologue, Tris Vonna-Michell loads his installations with extraordinary stories. Erwin Wurm’s ‘One Minute Sculptures’are made by the visitors themselves.

Within the visual arts, the art of performance is linked since the 1960s to a particularly physical, often objectlike approach of the body. Yael Davids approaches the body from an abstract perspective and creates a sort of human architecture. Jimmy Robert and Ian White refer in a minimal, theatrical manner to elements from the history of culture. Particularly exceptional is the exhibition/performance Living Currency in a theatre room. This event combines some fifteen works of art, performances and interventions by an international group of artists. Furthermore, there will be unannounced actions in various places by Vaast Colson, Miet Warlop, Wannes Goetschalckx & Ruben Kindermans.

With Playground, STUK wants to present a fascinating cross-section of the field between the visual arts and performance arts. Come and see for yourself this variety of installations, performances and actions. Welcome at Playground.

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STUK Art Centre
Naamsestraat 96,
B-3000 Leuven Belgium
T + 32 [0 >16 320 320
info@stuk.be
www.stuk.be
www.playgroundfestival.be