IM(POTENCIA)

The title (IM)POTENCIA can be understood as a play of words with the Spanish words potencia, meaning power (as in power to rule, superpower) and forces (as in strength and potential) and impotencia, meaning impotence, but also powerlessness and the lack of strength.

In the Black Box Teater program IM(POTENCIA) (2010) by Veronika S. Bökelmann and Anett Vietzke, VOLUMEN EXPRESS, was referred to like this:

"In 2001 the economy of Buenos Aires collapsed completely. Overnight thousands of people lost all their savings, all their plans for the future and all self-respect without any kind of governmental support. Different from any other place in the world Buenos Aires represents the fine balance between the individual’s plan for his/her own life and the dependency of the global economic system. This documentary theatre production discusses the loss of identity for a people who in short time went from seeing itself as related to Western Europe to being regarded as the Third World of Southern America.

As a consequence of this fear and lack of security manifest, but as do new dreams, in biographies, architecture and daily life the like. The new reality of Buenos Aires poses questions reflecting the European fear of losing economic and idealist security. What happens to people in an economic crisis? If the only thing certain is that you can no longer trust anything, what do you dream of?"

With this theme as the foundation Bökelman has Vietzke interviewed citizens of Buenos Aires. This material, plus the personal experiences of the writers and performers, images, sounds, found objects and subjective documentary descriptions of daily life have made the foundation for the production. The Argentine performers involved all had personal experiences related to the collapse.

Volumen Express is a company aiming to reflect socio-cultural change and identity in an intercultural confrontation. (IM)POTENCIA is the second major production by the company, with a preview during the festival Marstrand. The official premiere took place in Berlin April 22. 2010. Tyskerjenter (literally: Germans’ Girls) by the same company, was staged in August 2008 as a site-specific theatre installation in the isle Hovedøya in Oslo.

Source: Black Box Teater Oslo, http://www.blackbox.no/, 14.10.2010,  http://www.blackbox.no/content/titlePresentation.php?tid=2045&displayNav=false