FRAGILE 2024:
Just in Time / anarchivTANZ

Flying Archive (since 2022)
Mobile installation with (video) letters to dance
Place: Pina Bausch Centre under construction, Bundesallee 260, 42103 Wuppertal

Since 2016, deufert&plischke have been gathering "letters to dance" from around the world as part of their Just in Time project, resulting in a vibrant and diverse collection of letters from 20 countries, written in multiple languages. Alongside these heartfelt letters, favorite movements have been recorded, collected, and performed at dance events in each location. Over 40 video letters featuring prominent personalities have also been documented, forming the core of the anarchivTANZ, alongside more than 2,000 handwritten letters. These letters are now digitally accessible through a mobile installation, making this rich collection of personal and emotional expressions available to all.

The entire archive is now available as a "flying archive," traveling to new destinations. In collaboration with the German Dance Archive Cologne and Tanz Digital, the project is presented as an interactive installation, continuing its quest for new letters, voices, and movements.

Together with artists Kirsten Rönfeldt and Karen Zimmermann, deufert&plischke have created the Flying Archive, a small, mobile version of Just in Time. This interactive project invites visitors to embark on a collective journey through the project with the help of a unique medium—a flight case ingeniously transformed into a portable desk. Inside its drawers are copies of dance letters and favorite movements from people all over the world, ready to be explored. The Flying Archive provides both analogue and digital opportunities to give a letter a voice, read it aloud, or write your own letter to express your connection to dance. You can also leave a favorite movement, which can be performed by a dancer, whether in Wuppertal or anywhere else in the world.

deufert&plischke have been working as an artistic duo at the intersection of dance, society, and media since 2001. Their projects are created through choreography, photography, text, and video, embodying an unwavering commitment to participatory processes. Their performances and transdisciplinary works challenge traditional hierarchies between artists and audiences, creating new spaces for the imagination of everyone involved. Their range of work includes long-duration performances in gallery spaces, theatrical installations in museums, and collective artistic endeavors in small towns or even entire villages.

deufert&plischke also curate festivals and innovative formats that tour globally. For several years, they have lived and worked as a family of artists with their two children, Moritz and Simon. In 2021, they founded spinnereischwelm, a contemporary art space in Schwelm near Wuppertal, which serves not only as a venue for their projects but also as a place for open artistic processes with and through the community. Their work is supported by the state of NRW through the Spitzenförderung Tanz program and Kunststiftung NRW.

Credits:
Concept and realisation: deufert&plischke

A deufert&plischke project / A TANZFONDS ERBE project // Coproduction within the INTERNATIONAL COPRODUCTION FUND of the GOETHE-INSTITUT // Supported by NATIONALES PERFORMANCE NETZ International Guest Performance Fund for Dance, which is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the Departments of Culture and Arts of the German federal state.

anarchivTANZ is made in collaboration with: Institut für Zeitgenössischen Tanz der Folkwang Universität der Künste Essen

anarchivTANZ is made in collaboration with: Deutsches Tanzarchiv Köln

deufertandplischke.net