Richard Siegal & Miria Wurm: art.Life

The performers move through the spacelike a perfect choreography of swallows in the air. Forwards, backwards, in sharp turns and geometric formations , they divide and merge without ever losing harmony. It is as if every movement is controlled by an invisible force- an interplay of harmony and tension.

Choreographer Richard Siegal hasbeen fascinated by Shudan Kodo , Japanese precision walking, which has gained worldwide fame in the form of viralYouTube videos in recent years. Groups of athletes move with impressive precision in synchronized formations . Shudan Kodo thus combines an extraordinary blend of discipline, aesthetics and collectivity that impresses with both its visual power and technical perfection. Siegal brings this together in the form of 70 athletes from Nippon Sports University with two of hisballet-of-difference dancers and immerses them in the minimalist, electronic soundscapes of Alva Noto in combination with the lighting design of Matthias Singer: The result is a futuristic perspective on the tension between the collective and the individual.

Thanks to thetranslation of these geometric, pixel-like formations into immersive visual worlds , the viewer can familiarize themselves with the work from the inside out. At the same time, it challenges themtorethink some of their fundamental assumptions and questions. For Richard Siegal , this first international, transdisciplinary work on Shudan Kodo, which will celebrate its premiere during the International DANCE Festival Munich in the Kunstbau of the Lenbachhaus, also marks an examination of the technocratic tendencies of our digitally shaped reality. And so fundamental questions about this form the basis of art.Life: What can crowds tell usabout the digital age in which we live? Conversely, what can the digital reveal to usabout the nature of crowds?