Con STAGED? (2016) Maria Hassabi intende creare immobilità e lentezza attraverso la formazione di una scultura vivente composta da quattro performer. Un suono sottile emerge solo per brevi istanti, creato dalla compositrice sperimentale Marina Rosenfeld. Le pose dei performer, sviluppate su una lunga estensione di tempo, creano una massa intricata che oscilla continuamente fra riconoscibilità e indecifrabilità, astraendosi dalla forma umana e dalle sue capacità. Nell'immobilità predominate, il sottile slittamento delle immagini è fonte d'intensità e rilassamento. I muscoli fremono, gli occhi lacrimano, i volti si contraggono. Queste incontrollabili risposte neuro-muscolari, questi effetti fisici non-verbali e involontari causati dalla durata e dalla difficoltà dell'azione, si trasformano gradualmente nello spettacolo principale. I lavori di Maria Hassabi si prendono il loro tempo e chiedono allo spettatore di fare lo stesso. Hassabi pone una relazione tra corpo, fermo-immagine e oggetto scultoreo, portando alla luce la distanza o aderenza tra straordinario e prosaico, tra soggetto e oggetto.

performers Jessie Gold, Hristoula Harakas, Maria Hassabi, Oisín Monaghan
costumi Victoria Bartlett
composizione suono Marina Rosenfeld
dramaturgia Scott Lyall
management produzione Alexandra Rosenberg
assistenza produzione Kate Scherer
co-produzione Dance4 (Nottingham, UK), FIAF’s Crossing the Line Festival (New York, NY), High Line Art (New York, NY), The Keir Foundation with support from Dancehouse, Melbourne (Melbourne, AUS), The Kitchen (New York, NY), kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels, B), Onassis Cultural Center - Athens (Athens, GR), Summer Stages Dance @ ICA/Boston (MA)
residenze Live Arts Bard at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts - Bard College (Annandale on Hudson, NY), Camargo Foundation col sostegno di the Jerome Foundation (Cassis, FR), Robert Rauschenberg Foundation (Captiva Island, FL)

In STAGED? (2016) Maria Hassabi's intent to stillness and slowness is pursued through the formation of a live sculpture amongst four performers. A quiet sound composition designed by experimental electronic composer and artist Marina Rosenfeld floats in and out. The performers' poses, held for extended durations, create an intricate mass that continuously shape-shifts from recognizable to unknown representations, abstracting the human form and its capacities. While the quartet’s stillness is prominent, the subtle shuffle of images provokes both intensity and release. The dancers’ muscles tremble, tears well up in their eyes, their faces twitch. These nonverbal, involuntary physical effects of time and arduous activity, these uncontrollable neuromuscular responses, gradually become the new spectacle. Hassabi’s works take their time, and ask the viewer to do the same. She relates the body to the still image and the sculptural object, addressing the separation between the spectacular and the mundane, between subject and object.

performers Simon Courchel, Hristoula Harakas, Maria Hassabi, Oisín Monaghan
outfits Victoria Bartlett
composer Marina Rosenfeld
dramaturgy Scott Lyall
production management Alexandra Rosenberg
production assistant Kate Scherer
co-production of Dance4 (Nottingham, UK), FIAF’s Crossing the Line Festival (New York, NY), High Line Art (New York, NY), The Keir Foundation with support from Dancehouse, Melbourne (Melbourne, AUS), The Kitchen (New York, NY), kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels, B), Onassis Cultural Center – Athens (Athens, GR), Summer Stages Dance @ ICA/Boston (MA)
residencies at Live Arts Bard at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College (Annandale on Hudson, NY), Camargo Foundation with funding from the Jerome Foundation (Cassis, FR), Robert Rauschenberg Foundation (Captiva Island, FL)