LANDSCAPES AND BODIES #1–5

Mining and open-pit mining are global practices that involve exploiting, trading and transporting raw materials. At the same time, they also fundamentally transform physical spaces. They displace individuals, groups and entire peoples. Mining irrevocably changes the everyday experiences of local communities and their natural environments: villages are relocated, temporary camps are established to house miners, new mining towns are planned and constructed, mountain peaks are transformed into open mining pits. Forests become deserts, and rivers become spoil tips.

This five-part immersive virtual reality performance trail by Kötter/Israel/Limberg examines the local and global impacts of raw-material extraction on landscapes, living environments and social coexistence. KUNSTFEST WEIMAR 2021 is showing the complete landscapes and bodies #1–5 cycle, the first time this project has been exhibited as a whole. The audience will be invited to walk through a structure consisting of twelve rooms. The arrangement of the rooms in sequence suggests associations with mining tunnels, while also being reminiscent of housing units. 360° films will be shown in tandem with live performances and audio clips. It is only by gaining an overview of the individual parts, ‘Gold’—‘Coal’—‘Water’—‘Coltan’—‘Oil Shale’, and the juxtaposition of the situations in Indonesia and Saxony, the Ruhr region of Germany, Congo, and Estonia, that the overarching structures are revealed. This allows audiences to directly experience the issue of resource sustainability in a global way, not just a local one. ‘Gold’ addresses the ruthless overexploitation that has taken place in the copper and gold mines of West Papua. ‘Coal’ focuses on the renaturalised Neuseenland area near Leipzig and deals with the simultaneity of past and present energy spaces. ‘Water’ is devoted to the ongoing costs and charges, known as ‘eternal costs’, associated with mining, using the example of the water pump systems in the Ruhr area/Essen that prevent ground subsidence, groundwater contamination, and damage to the earth’s surface. ‘Coltan’ explores the perspective of women in artisanal mining (femmes twangaises) of the coltan mines in eastern Congo, and the ongoing risks for the region and its inhabitants. ‘Oil Shale’ examines the oil shale mining on the distant edges of Europe, and its territorial and political implications for the Russian minority group in Estonia.

Documentary filmmaker and music theatre director Daniel Kötter works as part of the Kötter/Israel/Limberg performance collective in various artistic contexts, together with set designer Elisa Limberg and dramaturg Sarah Israel. Daniel Kötter shares an interest in artistic, political and social aspects of living and stage space with both of these artists. The collective’s interdisciplinary, collaborative, documentary and performative practices often take them to the African continent, the Middle East and North America.

On both evenings, following the cycle that will end with ‘Oil Shale’, the waiting audience will be able to take part in a public discussion with an expert, inviting them to discuss the theatre event and sustainable resource consumption in a globalised world.

THU, 2 SEP
»GOLD & COAL«
Entry from 4 PM, last admission 8 PM

FRI, 3 SEP
»GOLD & COAL«
Entry from 4 PM, last admission 8 PM

»OIL SHALE«
10 PM

SAT, 4 SEP 
»GOLD & COAL«
Entry from 11 AM, last admission 12 PM

»WATER & COLTAN«
Entry from 6 PM, last admission 7.30 PM

»OIL SHALE«
10 PM

SUN, 5 SEP
»WATER & COLTAN«