Folkwang

Folkwang is...on the move

Film instead of theater performance: Because this year's "movement project" of the third-year drama class cannot take place in front of an audience at the Folkwang Theaterzentrum due to the corona pandemic, the project has moved online: On April 25, "Gukmal" will celebrate its premiere as an online film. Folkwang spoke to Prof. Thomas Rascher, who is co-supervising the project, about how this idea came about and the challenges that arose during the project work

How did the idea of making a film out of "Gukmal" come about?

Of course, we were initially very disappointed by the rejection. But then Lara Martelli and I thought together about how we could deal with this new situation and perhaps show the movement project after all. In the end, our idea was to work with videos that would be turned into a film.

What impact did the lockdown have on the rehearsals for "Gukmal"?

The rehearsal period started regularly in March. The students were really looking forward to it. We actually wanted to work in one room for five weeks, interact with each other as a group and get moving. This process was no longer possible due to the contact ban. Instead, each student developed their own movement sequences in the form of videos from home.

What is "Gukmal" about?

The starting point is a research trip to a mysterious place where strange creatures live. Starting from this basic idea, the students interact with the space around them - from the room in a shared flat, to the attic, to a wall of glass bricks in the stairwell. They engage with their bodies, play with different lighting conditions and explore the performative means of non-verbal expression. It was important to us to step out of the private sphere and transform it to create something artistic. As a result, exciting questions have repeatedly arisen that we address in the project and that relate to the current reality of life: How are you dealing with the situation? What does isolation mean to you? How do the restrictions affect you? And what physical realization can you develop for these thoughts, feelings and impressions? A feeling of being cramped, for example, gives rise to a movement that can be pursued further and developed into a sequence.

What were the biggest challenges during this process?

When developing a piece, we always start from scratch. But now there were always new problems to overcome. On the one hand, there were the technical aspects: Not everyone has a video camera or a well-functioning W-LAN at home. Not everyone can immediately sit down in front of a laptop and deal with the new situation. On the other hand, we also had to accept the reality of the students' lives on other levels: The biggest challenge for us was that we couldn't work together in one room on one piece, but each of us had to develop something separately. We, the teachers, were in contact with the students in short conversations in between. There are many ways to develop a piece. But our project is always about mutual inspiration, experiencing each other and taking things from each other, spontaneously reacting to an impulse that happens in the room and then reflecting on it. We had to abandon this approach right from the start and invent new ways

How did the film ultimately come about?

First of all, we sifted through the wealth of video material and used it to develop the central theme of the film. For the editing process, the group split up into small teams. This allowed everyone to work on individual editing sequences from home. The result is a 30-minute film that we will be showing on April 25 from 6 p.m. on our Vimeo channel. I'm looking forward to the feedback from viewers - even if this virtual approach is still a little surreal.

How have you experienced the effects of the coronavirus crisis at the Folkwang Theaterzentrum?

The spontaneous reflex says that we can't work and teach digitally in the performing arts. We need direct contact, dialog in real space, on the rehearsal stage. In the end, however, we also realized that being open to the exceptional situation we are currently experiencing also gives rise to interesting new ideas. It is part of our artistic self-image to engage with the present moment and to deal with it. And I also see the teachers as having a certain role model function for the students in accepting the challenges constructively and familiarizing themselves with the new. We are all back at the classroom together and are learning with and from each other how to deal with these effects.

Kristina Schulze, University Communications Click here for the trailer: