AAIA / NTRCTC

The AAIA / NTRCTC project was created through the intersection of audiovisual performance with physical theatre. It refers to the most inhospitable parts of the world and the man who is fascinated by them. And also about the man who feels more at home in them than in the rest of society. And about the need to overcome fear of discomfort of the change. The show uses the aesthetic of polar places and takes us into the black water and the white darkness which are two qualities connected to Antarctica geographical conditions. The conditions of such a place lead to human experience of both solitude and our own inseparability from the community and the world. This possibility of separation but still being part of dependent existence is hidden in the project title that appears as a cluster of letters without meaning, but which has become a mere separation of the consonants and vowels of the word Antarctica.

The perspective, aesthetics and environmental issues of Antarctica were developed through research and interviews with Antarctic scientists from America, Canada and the Czech Republic who are working on environmental issues. They shared with us various kind of data that came out of their research and are often stored in nonacessible way to public with no additional use. Therefore, the visual and sound aspects of the performance are based on the data received from the scientists and the archive of audio recordings of specific situations of the underwater environment by Michal Kindernay, on the collection of thematic scientific materials by Michaela Dašková developed with choreographer Cecile da Costa, and on the artistic design by set and costume designer Anna Chrtková.

Because of the fact that Antarctica is the last real vast and disappearing wilderness on Earth, we addressed the issue of the amount of theatrical technology and energy used and tried to eliminate it as much as possible.

Important sources of inspiration for us were inuit artist Tanya Tagaq's book Split tooth and biologist, historian and feminist Donna Haraway's book Stay with the Trouble. In Split Tooth, Tanya Tagaq blasts through boundaries between the natural and the supernatural, reality and fantasy, the present and the past, and humans and other natural entities of the world. Tanya Tagaq explores a world where the distinctions between good and evil, animal and human, victim and transgressor, real and imagined lose their meaning, but the guiding power of love remains. Donna Haraway's book Stay with the Trouble describes our epoch as one in which the human and nonhuman are inextricably linked in tentacular practices. In the last part of the book Donna develops ideas about the need to change and merge with other organisms and take on their characteristics and abilities in order to survive and adapt to new world conditions.

The AAIA/NTRCTC may raise such questions, f.e.:
What happens to a person's consciousness when we move them to a landscape with extreme living conditions?
What happens to the meaning of the words of oligarchs when we move them with a counter to the melting glacier island? How does the perception of the distribution of the world change when we change the experienced view of it? When we place the South Pole at its centre? What is the connection between Antarctica and the Roma neighbourhood of City Most, directly affected by coal mining and burning?
How many more ice cubes will melt in the sea cocktail of the coal miners before they buy up all the permits to run thermal power plants?
What is the face of the penguin in the photo of the Japanese tourist?

SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE GUIDELINES
* The performance is in English. There are transcripts of the texts in English.
* The performance is slightly immersive. The audience area is part of the stage, the audience can move around the space.
* The performance is standing room only. There are 3 white plinths in the space for seating.
* We use laser light shortly in one scene in the show.
* It's dark at the beginning of the show.
* One by one, the audience is led into the space in the prescribed manner.

Concept, performer: Micha Ela Dašková

Concept, visual, sound, performer: Michal Kindernay
Choreographic and directing collaboration: Cecile da Costa
Set design: Anna Chrtková
Light design: Filip Horn
Visual and graphic design: Darja Lukjanenko
Production: Markéta Bartasová

Lenght: 60-70 minutes

In media:
Taneční aktuality
Jana Bohutínská: AAIA / NTRCTC – O tání a zmaru

Co-produced by Trikular z.s. and Studio ALTA.

Partners: TJ Sokol Smíchov I., Komunitní prostor Smíchov, State Culture Fund of the Czech Republic, TJ Sokol, Nová síť z.s., Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and the EEA Grants supported the project, Co.labs and ART RE USE.