BRIEVENBUS

BRIEVENBUS is a project curious about the intimacies within distance – not in spite of it but the specific intimacies that emerge only through layers of mediation. The brievenbus (letterbox) is a portal through which letters enter and exit in diverse forms, navigating the web of physical and virtual spaces in which we seek intimacy. We built a draft of this letterbox (4x6m, foldable) in June.

In early explorations at Dansateliers, with a 10-min performance frame, we searched for technologies of locating, reading, and performing presence through song, spoken text, movement sequences, film, animation, and scenography. We tore elements of presence across space-time, e.g. the performing of our song about an Icelandic volcano emerged in 6 misaligned parts – walking to the Performance Place, passing the ukulele, the arrival of the chair, the live voice, the recorded voice, and the spotlight. 

We propose moving away from absence; rather, my absence Here indicates I am busy being Present in other places. The choreographic prototype we created was preoccupied with misalignments like this. Based on this prototype, we performed 8 improvisation permutations (each a handwritten letter) that meandered rhizomatically through an attempt to make sense of distance, especially through the aestheticisation of DISASTER, which can be intimately beautiful when far-removed.

This segment has now closed. We plan to delve into the corporeality of the letterbox towards a durational performance-installation.