ONLINE-KURS / Kurs-Anmeldung bis 26. April 2020 möglich

Für alle Lehrveranstaltungen in den Fächern Theater-, Tanz- und Filmwissenschaft sowie Kultur- und Medienmanagement entfällt die Shopping Period. Eine Anmeldung zu den LV ist deshalb für alle Kurse nur bis zum Ende der ersten Woche der Vorlesungszeit möglich (Sonntag, 26. April 2020). Bitte checken Sie regelmäßig Ihren FU-Mailaccount (ZEDAT-Mail)!

Aufgrund der Maßnahmen zur Eindämmung des neuartigen Corona-Virus an der Freien Universität Berlin wird diese Lehrveranstaltung im Sommersemester 2020 als Online-Kurs angeboten. Die Seminarleitung wird sich auf Basis der finalen Teilnahmeliste (Deadline: 26. April 2020) bei Ihnen per Mail melden und die Modalitäten des Online-Kurses mit Ihnen direkt klären. Bitte planen Sie ein, dass zu den angegebenen Seminarzeiten ggf. Videokonferenzen, Sprechstunden o.ä. stattfinden können. Weitere Änderungen werden an dieser Stelle bekanntgegeben.

Nur für Studierende im M.A. Studiengang Tanzwissenschaft 

“Adaptations” takes up the question of how one can migrate a particular format into another medium. In Michael Laub’s case, two modes of adaptation have been consistent in his body of work: the transfer of portraits to the stage on the one hand and the transmission of film to a theatre mode on the other hand. In 2002, Laub began adapting portraiture to the theatrical space using no narrative pretext other than his subjects. He was commissioned for “Porträts 360 Sek” (2002) at Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg, which was the starting point of a series of numerous portraits that was followed by various and ongoing approaches to the topic. By now, the nature of portraiture on stage has become a signature feature characteristic of Laub’s work during the last two decades. Additionally, his passion for cinema led him to various adaptations of film to the stage, e. g. as seen in his conversion of R. W. Fassbinder’s movie “Beware of a Holy Whore” in Laub’s 2017 play “Fassbinder, Faust and the Animists” as well as in “Rolling” (2019), a play that was entirely composed out of over 200 film excerpts staged in a roughly two hours long piece.

The course will attempt to illustrate methods of a stage art context, tracing the various in fluences starting in the 1960ies and 1970ies (e. g. happenings, visual arts, minimal music, …) until to the present. The evaluation begins with pieces that mainly consist of single actions pushed to some extreme, as well as the evaluation of the use of video. It will be followed by presentations within a more theatrical context, where dramaturgy becomes a more integral part of the working process. This will eventually lead us to have a look at examples that are focused on the use of text, which will confront us more directly with acting concepts. Furthermore, cinematographic techniques will be examined, specifically in terms of the relationship between sound and image. The course’s practical task will be centered around the development of a group portrait based on biographical as well as film-historic content and its possible adaptation to the stage. In the beginning, students are requested to prepare and showcase five to ten minutes of biographical material in any form they wish. For this task, they could consider either a portrait of themselves, the portraiture of somebody else present in class or a group portrait collaborating with several of their classmates. Additionally, the seminar will focus with on the depiction of dance in cinema. Consequently, reviving this found footage on stage will be the next objective. The course will try to work towards two main questions: What specifics apply to staging a group portrait – as opposed to staging an individual solo? And secondly, as the piece is based on filmic quotation of dance in cinema, how to create original material out of existing material? The course will also particularly try to critically evaluate how to equilibrate the fine line between adaptation and appropriation.

The challenge in portraiture on stage will be to not only be interested in solely staging personalities or re-staging existing dance in cinema. It is rather necessary to embrace both aspects, the fiction and the reality of the performers, the poles between naturalism and stylization. By mixing those two worlds, a play with what wants to be perceived as a quotation, what wants to be perceived as clearly artificial, what is illusionary creation especially showcased for the audience on stage and what can be perceived as the performer’s real character traits comes into being. Inevitably coined by a symbiotic co-authorship with the performer’s offered material, the process will have to be characterized by anticipating the unknown and ever-changing context of the performer's personality as well as a group’s dynamic within the working process, thus always leaving a space open to what the performing subjects bring themselves and how the accidental could occur.

The absence of a big scenographic set-design and extensive props, as usually present in a cinematographic production, fosters the performer's individual expressions and challenges the choreographic language that needs to be developed by those whom direct. The imaginary space may be extended by the use of different media. The course should enable the students to critically assess a validated integration of different medias such as text, scenography, sound and videography within their portraiture piece.