FRAGILE 2024:
LAKE LIFE – A participative performance

For people of all ages from 10 years
Duration: 90 min Language: German & English

Place: Pina Bausch Zentrum under construction, Bundesallee 260, 42103 Wuppertal

• Tickets:
• regular 18 €
• reduced 9 €
• groups of young people / schools 6 €

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How changeable and fluid are we? How do we intertwine with each other and the world around us? LAKE LIFE is a collaborative game, a puzzle, and a celebration – step in with two feet and perhaps leave with three. This transformative game blurs the lines between the imaginary and the real. The audience is invited to explore unprecedented spaces, a dreamlike world of imaginary bodies and self-transformation, where altered senses become palpable and the boundaries of identity are fluid. LAKE LIFE contrasts the fragility and uncertainty of today's world with the (re)discovery of trust, fun, and free imagination. How can we break free from the roles we’re expected to play in the outside world? What connects us all? Perhaps it’s the possibility of imagining a new world where we can reinvent our ways from scratch.

Building upon the successes of her participative works Worktable and In Many Hands, McIntosh crafts yet another fully immersive and interactive environment. This setting beckons a cross-generational audience to embark on an explorative journey within the stage space, encouraging continual self-reflection and evolving perceptions of themselves and others. The performance offers a platform for diverse encounters and interactions among various age groups, specifically tailored for an audience inclusive of both adults and young people. Adults un-accompanied by youths are warmly welcomed, alongside all independent-minded young people aged 10 and above, eager to explore their world.

Note: The performance is participative, with light physical contact. The piece is not suitable or interesting for young people less than 10 years old - in case of exceptional attendance an adult must be with them. The performance can be experienced in either German or English.

Kate McIntosh (1974) originally from Aotearoa New Zealand, is a Brussels-based artist who practices across the boundaries of performance, theatre, video and installation. Her works often focus on the physicality of both performer and audience, the manipulation of objects and materials, and the development of direct relations with and between audience members. Kate's practice is guided by her ongoing fascination with the misuse of objects, playfulness with the public, a love of theatrical images and unruly humour.

Trained in dance - since 2004 Kate has developed an internationally recognized body of stage and trans-disciplinary work which tours extensively in Europe as well as to Asia, Oceania, and the Americas.

Her stage works include the performance solos All Natural (2004), Loose Promise (2007), and All Ears (2013) and the group performances Hair From the Throat (2006), Dark Matter (2009), Untried Untested (2012), In Stereo (2015 with Bree Van Reyk), In Many Hands (2016) and To Speak Light Pours Out (2020). Her installation works include the video-installation De-Placed (2008 with Eva Meyer-Keller), and the interactive-installation Worktable (2011).

Within these creations she has invited collaborators such as Tim Etchells, Eva Meyer-Keller, Arantxa Martinez, Ghyslaine Gau, Jo Randerson, Sarah Parolin, Lilia Mestre, Charo Calvo, Minna Tiikkainen, Mikko Hynninen, Stefan Schneider, John Avery and many more.

She was artist in residence at Kaaitheater in Brussels during the years 2017-2021.

Beside her own practice, Kate was a founding member of the performance collective and punkrock band Poni, and has collaborated since 1995 with directors including Tim Etchells (UK), Wendy Houstoun (UK), Antonia Baehr (DE), and companies including Back to Back Theater (AUS), Forced Entertainment (UK), and Meryl Tankard Australian Dance Theatre (AUS).

Kate holds an MRes in Performance and Creative Research from Roehampton University (UK) and regularly teaches performance practice within various university courses.

Kate is also a founding member of SPIN – a practice-centred production and research platform in Brussels (currently carried with Hans Bryssinck, Sarah Parolin, Diederik Peeters, Anna Rispoli & Marnie Slater).

Credits:
a project by Kate McIntosh
in collaboration with Arantxa Martinez
visual installation Nadia Lauro
sound Eric Desjeux
light design Eduardo Abdala
artistic advice Harun Morrison, Sarah Parolin, Tim Etchells
sound research Charo Calvo
technical direction Koen De Saeger in collaboration with Tatiana Carret
studio assistance Maria O’Herce, Ashley Van Pouke
drawings Dari Gatti
cards Marzia Dalfini
harness nKarolien Nuyttens
voices Kate McIntosh (EN), Manah Depauw (FR/NL), Anja Müller (DE), Ana Libório (PT).

with the participation of Ghyslaine Gau
general management Sarah Parolin
production management Niamh Moroney
tour management Luca Napoli
distribution Nicole Schuchardt
administration Laura Deschepper, Elie Agniel
a production by SPIN (Brussels)
coproduced by kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels), BRONKS (Brussels), Kaaitheater (Brussels), Viernulvier Kunstencentrum (Gent), PACT Zollverein (Essen), Festival d’Automne à Paris (Paris), T2G Théâtre de Gennevilliers Centre Dramatique National (Gennevilliers), MDT (Stockholm), SPRING Performing Arts Festival (Utrecht), BIT Teatergarasjen (Bergen), SCHÄXPIR Festival (Linz), figuren.theater.festival (Erlangen), Teatro Municipal do Porto (Porto).
funded by Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie (VGC)
residency GC Pianofabriek (Brussels)
associated production L’Amicale (Lille)
thanks to Hans Bryssinck, Diederik Peeters, Laura Deschepper, Anna Rispoli, Marnie Slater, Caroline Daish, Britt Hatzius, Sheena McGrandles, Barbara Greiner, Frida Laux
special thanks to all the volunteer audiences who helped us in the process, and Sabine Zahn & Joshua Rutter for loaning the practice "Ghost Head" from the Unwritten Library
premiere May 18th, 2023 kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels, Belgium

www.spinspin.be