Performance
Calculated Risk
Tue 12 — Wed 13 Nov 2019Movedbymatter / Kasper Vandenberghe
Calculated Risk by equilibrium artist Kasper Vandenberghe is composed of three intimately entwined parts: The Ritual, The Installation, and The Story. The audience can experience this trilogy in any order they wish. The course, then, becomes a poetic quest for how much vulnerability we allow ourselves today, in a Western world that passionately believes in the perfectibility of humankind and society. However, how could we perceive vulnerability as strength? And, simultaneously, how do we withstand the gusts of wind and rain of life? In Calculated Risk, Vandenberghe dances on the flaccid tightrope between two profoundly human desires: the desire for balance and the desire for a bottomless leap into the unknown.
“A man climbs a mountain as if he is walking on a rope stretched between two mountaintops. With a cloud of smoke tied to his back. As if he believes he is made of smoke himself, so light. He believes the cloud of smoke makes him lighter. He believes belief can move mountains and that he can fall upwards.” – Peter Verhelst
The Ritual – The Installation – The Story
1. THE STORY (45')
During The Story, he explores the different aspects of the calculated risk. He gives an account of his conversations with field specialists (like a circus performer, hypnotist, insurer) to further dissect the bottomless vacuum of things. He offers a personal testimony examining what might be the most significant calculated risk in our lives: love. By excessively slowing down the visual recording of his fall, Vandenberghe’s actions are put into a whole new light.
2. THE INSTALLATION (Ongoing)
The Installation shows the studio of Vandenberghe. The museal setup reveals the drudgery behind his meticulous research into failing and trying again.
3. THE RITUAL (30')
In The Ritual he climbs a scaffold, dressed in a harness of mattress stuffing and bubble wrap, only to let himself fall like a stone from a height of exactly four meters and twenty centimetres. It is calculated recklessness. It is an ode to the fragility and exceptional resilience that the creating artist relates to a playing child. Moreover, every step of the ritual is accompanied by a text by Peter Verhelst.
During The Story, he explores the different aspects of the calculated risk. He gives an account of his conversations with field specialists (like a circus performer, hypnotist, insurer) to further dissect the bottomless vacuum of things. He offers a personal testimony examining what might be the most significant calculated risk in our lives: love. By excessively slowing down the visual recording of his fall, Vandenberghe’s actions are put into a whole new light.
2. THE INSTALLATION (Ongoing)
The Installation shows the studio of Vandenberghe. The museal setup reveals the drudgery behind his meticulous research into failing and trying again.
3. THE RITUAL (30')
In The Ritual he climbs a scaffold, dressed in a harness of mattress stuffing and bubble wrap, only to let himself fall like a stone from a height of exactly four meters and twenty centimetres. It is calculated recklessness. It is an ode to the fragility and exceptional resilience that the creating artist relates to a playing child. Moreover, every step of the ritual is accompanied by a text by Peter Verhelst.
Kris Dewitte
Credits
Foto's: (c) Kris Dewitte /Een productie van : movedbymatter / Kasper Vandenberghe / concept, regie en performance: Kasper Vandenberghe / tekst The Ritual: Peter Verhelst / scenografie The Ritual : Pepijn Gyssels / constructie The Ritual: Rico Naessens / motion engineer The Ritual: Wiebe Van Gansbeke / physical coaches The Ritual: Arne Sabbe en Simon Bruyninckx (collectif Malunés) / research The Ritual : Fisheye team / kostuumontwerp / The Installation: Kasia Mielczarek tekst The Story: Kasper Vandenberghe / camera en montage The Story: Pieter Van Campe / geluidsontwerp The Story: Frederik De Clercq / dramaturgie: Matthias Velle / artistiek advies: Katrien Bruyneel / techniek: Randy Thielemans /technisch / advies: Philip Van de Gehuchte /productiemanager : Yacoba Corral Davalos & Jolijn Talpe / zakelijke leiding: Wouter Vermeylen / financieel advies: Wim Viaene / fotografie: Kris Dewitte en Thomas Nolf/ Coproductie: Workspace Brussels - C-takt
Met de steun van: De Vlaamse Gemeenschap Circusdecreet - Fisheye Wetteren - Abrisso Anzegem - SONHOUSE Sound production Agency
Residentie: Circuscentrum Gent - Kunstencentrum Campo Gent - kunstencentrum BUDA Kortrijk - Vooruit Gent - Workspace Brussels - Grote Post Oostende - Jeugdtheaterhuis Larf!
Met dank aan: Koen Vandenberghe en Mieke Ronsmans - Hypnoclinic Antwerpen - prof. Marc De Kesel - dr. Sandra Balliu - dr. Tom Lootens - Geert Staelens - Carl Gydé - Tom Maeyens - Jasper Delbecke - Annabel Reid
Met de steun van: De Vlaamse Gemeenschap Circusdecreet - Fisheye Wetteren - Abrisso Anzegem - SONHOUSE Sound production Agency
Residentie: Circuscentrum Gent - Kunstencentrum Campo Gent - kunstencentrum BUDA Kortrijk - Vooruit Gent - Workspace Brussels - Grote Post Oostende - Jeugdtheaterhuis Larf!
Met dank aan: Koen Vandenberghe en Mieke Ronsmans - Hypnoclinic Antwerpen - prof. Marc De Kesel - dr. Sandra Balliu - dr. Tom Lootens - Geert Staelens - Carl Gydé - Tom Maeyens - Jasper Delbecke - Annabel Reid