Guestroom: You arrive, you look around, you start to unpack. The room is prepared for you, you move in for a while. Guest and host meet. They chat, they report, they ask, they sit together, they share a piece of time….
Thursday 8 November
Guestroom
KZNSA Gallery: 19.00
Guestroom is an interactive analogue chatroom for the 21st century created by visiting Swiss performance artists Jonas Gillmann and Ute Sengebusch working with Durban actors Mpume Mthombeni and Belinda Henwood. This performance/dialogue will be staged at the KZNSA Gallery for one performance only, on Thursday evening, 8 November at 7.00 pm hosted by Twist Theatre Projects.
Twist Projects is a respected KZN-based organisation that works on bridging the gap between community theatre and the theatre industry. Twist does a myriad projects including mentoring community-based theatre groups. Five of these groups will be performing at the Isigcawu Festival at K-Cap’s Ekhaya Multi Arts Centre in KwaMashu from 2-4 November.
Twist is co-ordinating a collaboration with Swiss theatre-makers Jonas Gillmann and Ute Sengebusch and Durban performers Mpume Mthombeni and Belinda Henwood at the KZNSA on Thursday 8 November at 7.00pm. The performance / dialogue presented at the KZNSA will focus on the theme of arts, artists, and access.
Ute Sengebusch works as director, actress, studio speaker and as lecturer at the University for Music and Drama in Stuttgart, Germany. Jonas Gillmann works as a freelance dramaturg and performer at the interface of performative and visual art. Ute and Jonas are on an artistic residency in South Africa from October to December, sponsored by Pro Helvetia, and hosted in Durban by Twist Theatre Development Projects.
“Time to think, time to reflect and time to exchange is limited. The format Guestroom provides an artistic frame, which focusses on the pleasure and the process of thinking. Artistic inputs are the starting point for exchange, talks, discussions or collective actions. Besides space the project Guestroom means as well time, spent by a random group, which thinks collectively and learns by that. Sensually, socially, creatively. The given frame and the rules guarantee security and provide space for discussions with regards of content. Guestroom is an analogue chatroom for the 21st century. We generate knowledge and skills, triggered by artistic interventions. This knowledge and experience, we take home and carry it on. With this format of collective thinking, we sharpen the awareness of thinking processes and dialogue,” say Sengebusch and Gillmann.
This project is made possible by Pro Helvetia. Twist Theatre Development Projects is funded by the National Lotteries Commission.
Entry to Guestroom is free and all are welcome! The “Guestroom” installation will be preceded by the launch of Monique Marks, Kiara Erwin and Tamlynn Fleetwood’s book Voices of Resilience at 5.30pm.
For more information, visit: www.firma-zwischenbereiche.ch / www.jonasgillmann.ch / www.twistprojects.co.za

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