transience

ŠEIKO DANCE COMPANY | MACIEJ KUŹMIŃSKI COMPANY

Transience is a site-specific living installation choreographed by Maciej Kuźmiński in collaboration with dramaturg Paul Bargetto and produced by Šeiko Dance Company based on the performance “i”. In the piece, a group of faceless visitors occupy a part of the local urban landscape as a form of living sculpture. Their intervention in contemporary reality creates a dissonance and invites the public to engage in a situation where the familiar is suddenly made strange and open to reinterpretation and contemplation.

Conceived as trans human beings from the future or from another world, the “visitors” operate on several levels of meaning in the contemporary urban environment. The most important idea is the concept of transience. We live in very uncertain times, and the idea that everything can change profoundly and quickly without warning is one of the central features of our current zeitgeist. We constantly evolve, increasingly upgrading ourselves with the latest achievements of technology, adapting to the social and ethical norms that shift accordingly, we gradually becoming the orphans of the contemporary world.

This living installation is durational, spread over many hours, allowing the beings to become living sculptures, to fully inhabit a location and provide the public time to contemplate. Their intervention in contemporary reality creates a dissonance and invites the public to engage in a situation where the familiar is suddenly made strange and open to reinterpretation. An important goal is to make visible to the public and encourage them to contemplate the essence of our time - the habits, routines, social norms, behavioural patterns, and, finally, the almost invisible objects that inhabit urban space, like trees or signs.

In the current pandemic environment, where mask wearing and social distancing are mandated policies, the beings also present the possibility of a worse, apocalyptic situation, where helmets and full body suits become necessary for survival.

On the performative level the visitors represent a maximum otherness. Their motivations, and the meanings of their movements are purposefully inscrutable and hidden, and they make no or little attempt to communicate with or directly interact with the public. They are simply present. On this level, the performance brings the public into a confrontation with their own attitudes towards strangers and their tolerance for otherness.

transience artists

photo Aleksander Joachimiak
photo Aleksander Joachimiak

Paul Bargetto
co-creation

photo Milica Kolaric
photo Milica Kolaric

Slavna Martinović
costume design

performance
photo D. Matvejev
photo D. Matvejev
photo D. Matvejev
photo D. Matvejev
photo D. Matvejev
photo D. Matvejev
Inga-Kuznecova

Inga Kuznecova

Mantas-Černeckas

Mantas Černeckas

Marija-Ivaškevičiūtė

Marija Ivaškevičiūtė

Darius-Berulis

Darius Berulis

transience
ŠEIKO DANCE COMPANY | MACIEJ KUŹMIŃSKI COMPANY

direction
Maciej Kuźmiński

co-creation
Paul Bargetto

costume design
Slavna Martinović

performance
Oksana Griaznova, Evgenij Kalachov
Niels Claes, Gintare Ščavinskų
Mantas Černeckas, Marija Ivaškevičiūtė
Inga Kuznecova, Darius Berulis

photos
Modestas Endriuska

intern assistant choreographer
Emile Boer

producers
Goda Giedraityte, Maciej Kuźmiński, Aleksandra Machnik

production
Šeiko Dance Company, Lithuania
Maciej Kuźmiński Company, Poland

M7 Productions, Poland

duration
3-5 hours

premiere
25 September 2020, Vilnius, Lithuania
during the Culture Night event

logos9
logos9

UPCOMING EVENTS

Requiem | Talent on the Move tour

Netherlands, Vlaardingen
Stadshoorzaal Vlaardingen
21 March 2024 | 7:30 PM

more info

Requiem | Talent on the Move tour

Netherlands, Nijverdal
ZINiN
22 March 2024 | 7:30 PM

more info

Memoryhouse

Austria, Linz Landestheater
Schauspielhaus
23 Mar 2024 | 5:00 PM

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Dwa / Zwei – Premiere

Germany, Osnabrück
Theater Osnabrück, main stage
30 March 2024 | 7:30 PM

more info

Requiem | Talent on the Move tour

Netherlands, Hardenberg
Theater de Voorveghter
04 April 2024 | 8:15 PM

more info

Requiem | Talent on the Move tour

Netherlands, Weert
Munttheater
05 April 2024 | 8:15 PM

more info

Memoryhouse

Austria, Linz Landestheater
Schauspielhaus
06 April 2024 | 5:00 PM

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Requiem | Talent on the Move tour

Netherlands, Brielle
Brestheater
06 April 2024 | 8:30 PM

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Resistance Movement | Solo Dance Contest Winners Gala

Poland, Gdańsk
Żak Club
07 April 2024 | 19:00

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Requiem | Talent on the Move tour

Netherlands, Houten
Theater aan de Slinger
10 April 2024 | 8:15 PM

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Requiem | Talent on the Move tour

Netherlands, Veendam
Vanberesteyn Cultural Center
12 April 2024 | 8:15 PM

more info

Memoryhouse

Austria, Linz Landestheater
Schauspielhaus
13 April 2024 | 7:30 PM

more info

Dwa / Zwei

Germany, Osnabrück
Theater Osnabrück, main stage
13 April 2024 | 7:30 PM

more info

Dwa / Zwei

Germany, Osnabrück
Theater Osnabrück, main stage
19 April 2024 | 7:30 PM

more info

Requiem | Talent on the Move tour

Netherlands, Hoogezand
Theater Kielzog
19 April 2024 | 8:15 PM

more info