WORKS WITH AKAT-DANCECOLLECTIVE

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GARAGE TRIBUTE 

 

Video project of AKAT-collective, Stefan Pichler and Andi Pils 
Filmed at September 2017, will be published 2018 
 

What´s cooking in the garage of Akat?...It´s our tribute-video to Pete and Nandie, those GarageQueens of Finland! Humoristic and Ironist l art combination of modern world and traditions of Finland. It time to consider deeply what it actually is art and what means to be cool...
Kohta sataa… Soon will be raining

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SPIRITUAL CABARET

 

AKAT-collective 2017
Dschungel Wien and Tanztage festival

Choreography and dance: Outi Elena Valanto and Heidi Seppälä

Stage: Andi Pils

Photo: Alexander Kneucker

 

A neon light is flickering on the back wall. Spotlights weeping the the empty floor to a music score resembling a twisted techno cabaret. Empty picture frames leaning to the back wall, awaiting to be filled with images of our most beloved social media memes and quotes. From the shadows you start to recognise two characters, standing still, presenting their Profiles to you. Awaiting to welcome you to...The Spiritual Cabaret.
There is a relatively new phenomena generated by social media, which encourages people to present ourselves to the world in a sensational, groomed & photoshopped way. One ́s actual experience becomes less valuable if it doesn ́t get exhibited in social media. Through memes, images, photoshopped selfies and quotes from wise men, we are presenting an image of ourselves which overshadows the reality. There is no compromised, tilted image with a double chin of me even existing anymore, because I would have deleted it and replaced with another photo taken from a more complimentary angle. Very often the main job of a photo doesn ́t seem to be a memory anymore, but to gain applause and appraisal from the others, and in this search for affirmation we lose ourselves.
Funny enough, parallel to this spree of social media modelling, there is a current fashion to post memes and quotes about stillness, meditation and yoga. Supposedly the aim is to present our spiritual progress, how we, too, understood the value of stillness in our daily hustle and bustle. How we not only exhibit our sensational lives to others through social media, but also work on our spiritual progress. The concept of exhibiting spiritual progress and finding one ́s true self is a paradox in itself, as the person is in fact going away from him/herself every time he ́s presenting something outside.
Back in the days people would go to see a theatre, a cabaret or a spectacle of some sort, and that was a novelty; something special to see. Nowadays, when we ́ve seen it all, nothing moves us anymore. In our performance we are playing with the idea, that perhaps people of 2017 are sensationalising themselves instead; we are re-creating ourselves as a spectacle online. With photoshop, fancy quotes and epic photography life becomes the cabaret and we become the main actors. Furthermore in our balancing act, as the yoga-fashion suggests, Everything is yoga and yoga is everything
With the usage of Cabaret-setting and distinguished memes we are drawing parallels to social media profiles and a spectacular theatre. We are laughing heartily at our human tendency to seek for approval and spiritual balance.