Michael Laub

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Michael Laub (born Belgium, 1953) is an internationally renowned avant-garde stage director and contemporary dance choreographer. His work has been shown around the world, notably at the Venice Biennale of 1984, the Universal Exposition Seville Expo '92, and the Festival d'Avignon of 2005. He has been called labeled a minimalist and "one of the founding fathers of anti-illusionist theater".^[1]

Contents 1 Career 2 Works 2.1 Maniac Productions 2.2 Remote Control Productions 3 References 4 External Links

[edit] Career

Laub's career in the arts began in the mid 1970's when based in Stockholm, founding and co-directing Maniac Productions with Edmundo Za. Their work was referred to as experimental; mixing Performance art and Video installation. Genevieve van Cauwenberge observed that the performances "are in fact polyvalent and difficult to classify. They make use of everything at once, combining their specific language, stage direction, plastic arts (Minimal Art), musical composition (repetitive sampling) body language (Body Art), Happening (intervention of hazard) and of course the electronic video image."^[2]

With the founding of Remote Control Productions in 1981, Michael Laub proceeded to take his work somewhat closer to theater. Influenced by various art forms, ranging from soap operas to classic literature and dance, his output as director of Remote Control Productions currently stands at over twenty plays. In what is perhaps something of an oversimplification of his extensive body of work, one can divide the material by three thematic approaches; the musical (Rough, Solo, Daniel and the Dancers, Total Masala Slammer); classic literature (Frank Wedekind's Lulu, Frankula, The Hans Christian Anderson Project); and portrait work (Portraits 360 Seconds, Out of Sorts, Alone/Gregoire, and The Biography Remix with Marina Abramović). One constant, since Rewind Song in 1989, has been the collaboration between Remote Control Productions and musician Larry Steinbachek, formerly of the band Bronski Beat.

Many theater critics have noted the conventions-challenging nature of Laub's work. When reviewing Daniel and the Dancers one writer noted that "the theatrical illusion has been destroyed, and what is happening on stage is simply a new reality."^[3] Deconstructing theater, finding novel ways in which to reconfigure the elements of a performance, is what fascinates and distinguishes this artist. A review pertaining to the same piece in the Danish newspaper Politiken attributes a certain violence to this theatrical approach. "This is masterful comedy," writes Monna Dithmer, "-served by the Laub diva Charlotte Engelkes-and a masterclass in the Laub technique, the aim of which is to smash the whole theatre process into bits and pieces and display them in all their naked glory."^[4]

It was only in the mid nineties, and in particular with the success of the play Rough, that Michael Laub/Remote Control Productions garnered international recognition. As a result the ensuing works became grander in scale. A fine example of this was Laub's play Total Masala Slammer/Heartbreak No. 5, in which six months of research in India brought Laub's fascination with Bollywood and Kathak dance and music into a synthesis with Western contemporary live art forms.

[edit] Works

[edit] Maniac Productions

1975 Maniac Productions Narren Teater, Stockholm

1976 Enfantillage Fylkingen Center for Intermedia, Stockholm
Paralysed Infancy in Repetitive Structure,
Avant Tehran De Appel, Amsterdam

1977 Mouse in Repetitive Structure, Avant Tehran Mickery Theatre, Amsterdam
Lily is going to have a baby Fylkingen Center for Intermedia, Stockholm

1978 Tragico Intervallo Kunstakademie, Dusseldorf
Tragico Intervallo II Arteferia Post Avant-Garde Theater Festival, Bologna
Maniac Productions II Mickery, Amsterdam
I closed the window and I went out for dinner Folkwang Museum, Essen Galerie Neu, Aachen

1979 Dinner Somewhere and then Back to my room RTBF Television [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTBF (French)
Kolnischer Kunstverein, Cologne
Theatre Populaire de Wallonie, Liege

[edit] Remote Control Productions

1981 Snapping, Computing and Performing Kulturhuset, Stockholm

1982 White Out Moderna Museet, Stockholm

1984 Return of Sensation XXXII Biennale di Venezia [1] Kulturhuset , Stockholm International Theatre Festival, Copenhagen, June 1985

1987 Pressure Kulturhuset, Stockholm

1989 Rewind Song Moderna Museet, Stockholm, February
6th Bergen International Theatre Festival, Norway

1991 Fast Forward/ Bad Air und so... Dansens Hus, Stockholm, February
Theater am Turm, Frankfurt, February
Bergen International Theatre, April
Touch Time Festival, Mickery, Amsterdam, May
Kaaitheater, Brussels, June
Wiener Festwochen, Vienna, June

1992 Jack's Travelogue/La Prison des Femmes Black Box Theatre, Oslo, May
Teatro Central, Seville Expo '92, June
Dansens Hus, Stockholm, August
Theater am Turm, Frankfurt, October
Kaaitheater/Theatre 140, Brussels, November

1994 Rough Kulturhuset, Stockholm, January
Teatergarasjen, Bergen, January
Springdance, Utrecht, April
Theater am Turm, Frankfurt, April
Szene, Salzburg, July
Internationales Sommer Theater Festival, Hamburg, July
Theatre 140/ Charleroi Danse, Brussels, November
Nordisk Scenekunst Festival, Arhus, April
Europaisches Festival Schlossfestspiele, Schwerin, June
Ludwigsburg Scholssfestspiele, July
Hebbel_Theater (German), Berlin, August

1994-'96 "Daniel and the Dancers"
Frascati, Amsterdam, October, 1994
Monty, Antwerpen, January, 1995
Lantaren, Rotterdam, January, 1995
Schouwburg, Tilburg, January, 1995
Dansens Hus, Stockholm, February, 1995
Theater am Turm, Frankfurt, February, 1996
Hebbel_Theater (German), Berlin, March 1996
Kanon Hallen, Copenhagen, March 1996

1995-'96 Solo with Charlotte Engelkes
Spielart, Munich, October 1995
Theater am Turm, Frankfurt, February 1996
Hebbel_Theater (German), Berlin, May 1996
Szene, Salzburg, July 1996
Monty, Antwerp, October 1996
Schouwberg, Tilburg, October 1996
Kulturhuset Arhus, November 1996

1997-'98 Planet Lulu
Kulturhus Arhus, March 1997
Springdance, Utrecht, April 1997
Theater am Turm, Frankfurt, May 1997
Hebbel_Theater (German), Berlin, May 1997
Szene, Salzburg, July 1997
Zuercher Theater Spektakel, Zurich, September 1997
Kampnagel, Hamburg, Spetember 1997
Grand Theater, Groningen, September 1997
De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam, October 1997
Schouwburg, Tilburg, October 1997
Pusterviksteatern, Gotheborg, October 1998
Dansens Hus, Stockholm, October 1998

1998-'99 Frankula
Grand Theattre, Groningen, August 1998
TANZtheaterInternational, Hanover, September 1998
Frascati, Amsterdam, September 1998
Schouwberg, Tilburg, February 1999
Hebbel_Theater (German), February/March 1999
Szene, Salzburg, July 1999

1999-2000 Out of Sorts
De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam, April 1999
Grand Theatre, Groningen, April 1999
Szene, Salzburg, July 1999
Expo, Hanover, September 1999
Schouwberg, Tilburg, October 1999
Mousonturm, Frankfurt, February 2000

2000-'03 Pigg in Hell
Tanz im August, Berlin, 2000
Podewil, Berlin, 2001
Mousonturm, Frankfurt, 2001
off limits Festival, Dortmund, 2001
Rotterdamse Schouwburg, 2001
euro-scene, Leipzig, 2001
Tramway, Glasgow, 2002
Impulstanz, Vienna, 2002
Tanzwerkstatt, Munich, 2002
Zuercher Theaterspektakel, 2002
Archa Theater, Prague, 2002
cutting edge, Staatstheater Darmstadt, 2003

2001-'02 Total Masala Slammer/Heartbreak No. 5
Tanz im August, Hebbel-Theater, Berlin, 2001
Archa Theater, Prague, 2001
Zuercher Theater Spektakel, 2001
Rotterdamse Schouwburg, 2001
Szene, Salzburg, 2002
Impulstanz, Vienna, 2002
Melbourne Festival, 2002

2002 Portraits 360 Seconds Deutsches_Schauspielhaus(German) Hamburg, 2002

2003 The H.C. Andersen Project-Tales and Costumes
Zeurcher Theater Spektakel,2003
Hebbel_Theater (German) , Berlin, 2003
Rotterdamse Schouwberg, 2003
Exodus Festival, Cankargev Dom, Ljubljana, 2004
Dance, Munich, 2004
Mousonturm, Frankfurt, 2005
Rencontre Choreographique de Seine St. Denis, 2005

2004-'05 The Biography Remix with Marina Abramović
Romaeuropa, Rome, 2004
Festival d'Avignon, 2005

2004 Alone Zuercher Theater Spektakel, Zurich

2004 Alone/Gregoire
Deutsches_Schauspielhaus(German) Hamburg, 2004
De Internationale Keuze van de Rotterdamse Schouwburg, Rotterdam, 2004
Tanz im August, Internationales Tanzfest Berlin, 2005
Tanzquartier, Vienna, 2005
Mousonturm, Frankfurt, 2006
Rencontre Choreographique de Seine St. Denis, 2006
Festival d'Otono, Madrid, 2007

2007-present Portrait Series Berlin. Professional and Non-Professional Dancers/Marching Series (work in progress)
Tanz im August, Internationales Tanzfest Berlin, 2007
Zuercher Theater Spektakel, 2007
Rotterdamse Schouwburg, 2007

[edit] References

[edit] External Links

Video of Total Masala Slammer/Heartbreak No. 5 (http://www.impulstanz.com/gallery/videos/rmf9/)