Excerpts of citation without context

Excerpts of citation without context (2010) by Winter Guests/Alan Lucien Øyen was a solo performance dealing with overexposure, too much information and the problems of accessibility. In 2005 the piece was coupled with another dance solo, Screened Out, choreographed for award-winning dancer Daniel Proietto. This solo was also based on the essay Ecran Total(Eng. Screened Out) by the writer Jean Baudrillard.

Information

(Objekt ID 9855)
Object type Production
Premiere Navember 12, 2004
Produced by winter guests
Coproducers BIT Teatergarasjen, Carte Blanche
Audience Adults
Language English
Keywords Dance, Contemporary dance, Multidisciplinary, Solo
Running period Navember 12, 2010  
Website Winter Guests
More

The solo project Excerpts of citation without context by Winter Guests/Alan Lucien Øyen raised questions like; what is lost when words are wasted, and who profits when words are being saved?

In the search for a narrative tie-together of the piece, what is more daunting – incidents of context without citation, or excerpts of citation without context?

"We are what we consist of. How do we know then, that what we exist of is uniquely us? In the failure to put up filters to the information that threatens us from all sides, are we perhaps reaching the autistic moment: the point where the state of openness is so wide we become an outreach of everything around us. We become contagious with the information that runs through us. How do we know in the end, if the stream is of our own consciousness?"

Alan Lucien Øyen's delivery of the spoken word in a high-speed stream of consciousness was accompanied by a myriad of flickering video images in a piece which sat out to deal with our overexposure to information and the problems of accessibility.

"So I went to the museum and OD’ed on useless information. On details of clouds you can’t see. Portraits without subjects. Of empty single-coloured canvasses with only the brush strokes to account for questions raised by artists that I don't know.  I found a haven in the overload of bits and bites of undigested visuals from transferred dreams and thoughts that had no relevance but for what I made myself. Until they told me what it meant."

Excerpts of citation without context by Winter Guests/Alan Lucien Øyen was supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs/MFA (travel grant/performing arts).

Sources:

BIT Teatergarasjen, bit-teatergarasjen.no, autumn program 2004, http://www.bit-teatergarasjen.no -archive

Winter Guests, winterguests.com, 10.03.2011, http://www.winterguests.com/dance/screened-out.html#fulltext

Contributors (6)
Name Role
Alan Lucien Øyen – Text
Alan Lucien Øyen – Choreography
Alan Lucien Øyen – Video/Film
Christian Blom – Sound design
Torkel Skjærven – Lighting design
Alan Lucien Øyen – Performer
Performance dates
May 16, 2010 20:00 – Assembly Hall Show
May 15, 2010 20:00 – Assembly Hall Show
March 22, 2009 14:00 – N4th Theater, North Fourth Art Center Show
March 21, 2009 20:00 – N4th Theater, North Fourth Art Center Show
Navember 14, 2004 20:00 – BIT Teatergarasjen, Norsk Dramatikk Show
Navember 13, 2004 20:00 – BIT Teatergarasjen, Norsk Dramatikk Show
Navember 12, 2004 20:00 – BIT Teatergarasjen, Norsk Dramatikk Worldwide premiere
Festivals (1)
Global DanceFest March 21, 2009