Choreographic laboratory
16.7. - 25.7.2013, Zürich

Overview:
During 10 days over 20 artists meet and occupy the space of Gessnerallee. This laboratory is conceived of as an invitation to share ideas and work methods, to discuss, reflect and test out ideas with each other without expectation of specific results or the pressure of production modus.

Date: 16.7. - 25.7.2013

Artistic Director 2013: Simone Aughterlony, Choreographer Zürich

Place and Organizer: Gessnerallee Zürich

Participants:
• 20 artists, among them 10-15 choreographers who live and work in Switzerland
• 8 Swiss and international guests from different branches of the arts, who will be involved in the various discussions, experiments and small performances/lectures within the laboratory. Already confirmed: Eike Wittrock, Kate McIntosh
• A support team. It consists of the artistic director, technicians and production managers.

Who can apply:
• Choreographers from Switzerland who already have experience in devising their own performance work and are open to joining and contributing to creative research.
• A choreographer can apply along with another artist. This artist can come from another artistic field and a foreign country.
• Choreographers will be recruited through a call for applications.

Language: English

Conditions:
Participation in the laboratory is free of charge
The organizer covers the following costs of the participants:
• Accommodation in Zürich;
• Travel to/from Zürich;
• Per diem

Application: Due April 19, 2013 (application details below)

A project by: Reso – Dance Network Switzerland
in cooperation with Gessnerallee Zürich

Supported by: Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia
Ernst Göhner Stiftung
Stadt Zürich

Idea

The laboratory shall be a meeting point, a crossroad of creative ideas, a melting pot of different artistic practices and inventive approaches. A protected environment in which ideas can be developed, confronted, a space in which possible future collaborations can grow, a place in which emerging artists are provided the professional means to research with their peers without the pressure of having to work towards a final product.
The lab’s aim is to reflect and reinvent the very idea of “art making” in our times, fostering new forms of collaboration due to the unusual set-up in which it develops. It's a hands-on project where artists learn by doing, devising new strategies from their creative trials. We believe that artists learn with each other throughout their artistic careers. Therefore, during the two weeks of each lab, we aim to isolate them from their market-competitive environment and immerse them in a fruitful collaborative one.
A support team will attend to the artists during their experiments. To foster the transdisciplinary nature of the dance productions, guests coming from Switzerland and other countries with a wide range of artistic backgrounds will provide the choreographers with their individual input.

Thinking about a laboratory... Simone Aughterlony

What is a laboratory and how do we create it? A workspace, a research field, a place to question, experiment, a secluded and safe haven to follow whims, to test out fanciful phenomenon. But also a meeting point, discussion room, a place to cultivate and share ideas. Carving out a bit of time for reflection, taking time to observe, both ones own practice and that of other artists present. We begin the laboratory not knowing. We all carry responsibility for the laboratory, each thought or utterance contributes to our field of questions, each action contributes to our playground. But also to really tryout initial proposals - to take very rough and not yet formed ideas and test them out with the necessary material, bodies, light, and space - whatever is needed.
It feels like we so often apply for funding to begin working on our projects based on theory and hypothesis. This laboratory can be a space to experiment and gain some insight into the potential within an idea immediately for the projects that we are already brewing. It can just as equally be a place to arrive at rather empty, open to join discussions, follow tangents and gain inspiration from other participants or guest artists.
The day will, to some extent, be self-organized but structured by specific meeting points to share ideas, make requests and propose experiments. There will also be a program of presentations, scheduled talks and lectures that everyone is welcome to join. The guest artists will also be available to dialogue, observe and support the creative research.
The various spaces in Gessnerallee will be available throughout the day but also in the evenings for working or socializing. I am looking very much forward to spend these summer days in an artistic research at the Gessnerallee with you!

About Simone Aughterlony

Simone Aughterlony °1977 graduated from the New Zealand School of Dance in 1995. Since moving to Europe she has been involved with various artists in the roles of both a performer/deviser and as a choreographer. She joined Meg Stuart/Damaged Goods in 2000 and worked on the productions of «Highway 101» and «Alibi» among others. She has choreographed for theatre productions in Schauspielhaus Zürich, Volksbühne Berlin, and Burg Theatre Wien under the direction of Falk Richter, Stephan Pucher and Niklaus Helbling.
Simone first began the production of her own performance work in 2003 with the presentation of her solo, «Public Property». Her subsequent works, «Performers on Trial» and the group work «Bare Back Lying» toured extensively in Europe, as did the group work «The best and the worst of us» (2008) Simone likes to collaborate with artists on specific projects; in 2006 she created «Between Amateurs» together with Video artist Meika Dresenkamp, and with filmmaker Jorge Leon she devised the project «To serve», a trilogy on the subject of domestic service that premiered in Kunsten festival Brussels May 2010. Upon invitation from SPIELART Munich, Simone created the duet, «TONIC» which was presented in the frame of «What’s Next?» on recommendation from Tim Etchells.
Most recently Simone has been working in smaller formats with her return to solo performance in «We need to talk» and the series of duos she is planning. «Show and Tell», the first of the duo series premiered in January 2013 and was a collaboration with performer Phil Hayes.

Conditions for the applicants
The application is open to choreographers working in Switzerland, who already have experience in creating their own works.

A choreographer can apply alone, but also teamed up with another artist (shared application).

A shared application allows choreographers to apply jointly with an artistic partner. This second artist can work in any artistic field, and be established either in Switzerland or in a foreign country. The applicant is required to ensure the availability of his/her partner before applying.

Choreographers will be recruited through a call for applications. The participation to the laboratory will be confirmed at the beginning of May.

Application procedure
Applications are accepted by email only. In order to apply please send the required documents as listed below to the following address: labor@gessnerallee.ch

• Letter of motivation (about 1 1/2 page) answering the following questions:
  o Why do you think this is a good moment for you to participate in this laboratory? Where are you at right now in your artistic practice?
  o What might you be interested in questioning and/or researching?
  o If you apply with another artist (shared application), who is it and what is your motivation to team up with her or him?

• CV – resumé (maximum 1 page)

We kindly ask you to send your application in English. The quality of English won’t be a decisive factor.

Application deadline: April 19, 2013

Contact:
Gessnerallee, Sabine Krammer, Gessnerallee 8, 8001 Zürich
T: +41 44 225 81 10, M: labor.DELETE.(at).REMOVE.gessnerallee.ch.IGNOREME.COM