NYXXX

Avatars, play and performance

Author: tova

Someone You Trust at Skogen

By

On October 1, 2018

In English, Event


In November, Nyxxx project Someone You Trust premieres in a first version at Skogen in Gothenburg.

Someone You Trust uses the practice of rope bondage to explore trust.

For us who made Someone You Trust, trust is based on listening, consent and clear frames for participating or opting out. Someone You Trust is an attempt to establish conditions for that, both in the encounter between two people, and in the encounter between audience and artists.

The performance is divided into two acts. You can choose to come to both of the acts or just one of them (whichever you prefer). In connections to the rehearsals, there will also be a theoretical outlook on Japanese rope bondage.

SOMEONE YOU TRUST – THE PARTICIPATORY ACT
You and someone you trust book a common ticket, and you come to the performance together. Together, you will follow instructions for how to use a number of ropes. The instructions are calm and invite you to listen to each other and yourselves in a meditative way.

Though in different places, you share room with the others who participate in the first act. Just like you, they follow instructions for tying and being tied.

The instructions are in English.

You need no previous experience of bondage to participate.
Don’t decide on forehand who will tie and who will be tied.

The participatory act will play
– 23–24 of November 18.00–19.00
– 25 of November 16.00–17.00.

SOMEONE YOU TRUST – THE WATCHING ACT
You book a ticket and come to the performance alone or in company, whatever you prefer.
You and the rest of the audience sit down and watch what happens on stage.
On stage, Tova Gerge and Britta Kiessling follow instructions that are both similar to and very different from the instructions in the first act. It becomes a dance with ropes, trust, risk and listening.

The performance is in English.

The watching act will play
– 23–24th of November 19.30–20.30
– 25th of November 17.30–18.30.

SOMEONE YOU TRUST – THEORETICAL OUTLOOK
18th of November. More information soon.

WITH AND BY
TEXT: Tova Gerge and Britta Kiessling

PERFORMERS: Tova Gerge and Britta Kiessling
TEXT EYE AND ROPE RESEARCH: Christian Nilsson
SOUND: Elize Arvefjord
LIGHT: Josefina Björk
ROOM: Josefina Björk, Tova Gerge and Britta Kiessling
ARTISTIC SUPPORT: Gabriel Widing och Ebba Petrén

Foto: Ekaterina Lukoshkova

Thanks to
Everyone in the performing arts collective Nyxxx.
Everyone who helped us to develop the participatory act.

With the support of: Japanstiftelsen, Längmanska kulturfonden, The Swedish Art’s Grant Committee, Cirkör LAB, c.off, The Swedish Author’s fund and Stockholm County Council

Nyxxx member Tova Gerge published acclaimed novel

By

On October 1, 2018

In English, Process

Tova Gerge, Pojken (”The Boy”), publishing house Albert Bonniers

Nyxxx: We had a conversation with you on how to write this book years before it was actually published. What do you want to tell our readers about it?

Tova: It’s a novel about the fragility of power, and in a way it is influenced by role play. On the level of the story, the characters in the novel are absorbed by a role play of dominance and submission. But there is also an aspect of role play in how I wrote it. The novel plays with the glitch between myself and the narrator. He is a man trying to break with his working class background through a relationship, and he has no ambition whatsoever to be a good feminist. At the same time, just as in role play, he is also busy with questions that are mine, just from another perspective.

Nyxxx: Do you want to tell something about the reception in the media?

Tova: The reviews I liked the most focused on the riddle in the text. The fact that the reader is forced to answer for themselves who has the power, when, and in what way. It’s also been quite interesting to see how gender is read and remediated in the media. There is an ambivalence in how one of the characters ”should” be read, and some handled this through making a firm decision, while others embraced that ambivalence. The most fun about interacting with the media has been longer interviews, because they allow a dialogue, a difference, a discovery.

Here, you can read more about Pojken in Swedish.

The Hospitality – Now in French!

By

On August 31, 2016

In English

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When we wrote the larp-inspired social game The Hospitality for Gothenburg Dance and Theatre Festival in 2014, we were under the influence of different French philosophers, such as Bataille, Derrida and Barthes. Since then, this ultra comfortable spaceship saga about collective agency and loss has appeared and disappeared in Linköping (ung scen/öst), Stockholm (Scenario Festival) and Oslo (Grenselandet). But this autumn, something extra ordinary happened: Stephane Rigoni translated The Hospitality into French and along with Stéphanie Ailloud and Batiste Carpinetty run it this August during the third instalment of LaboGN, a Larp summer camp in France.

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The game run had 20 players, and a lot of cool light that we never thought of ourselves. What more is, The Hospitality might be staged in France again. One player from the first French run wants to take it to her home town, and the scenario will also be posted soon on a French portal for sharing Larp scenarios of different kinds. It feels like quite a beautiful thing that this very anti-ownership scenario goes on a road trip without us. On croise les doigts pour L’Hospitalité!

 

 

 

Spöken i maskinen

By

On July 30, 2016

In Podcast, Process, Swedish (Svenska)

radio-nyxxx-karta

Den här bilden kommer från sommaren 2015, när vi försökte gissa vilka rum som de flesta mellanstadiebarn har tillgång till i sin vardag. Ungefär för ett år sedan började vi nämligen arbeta med vår första radioföljetong, och eftersom vi till skillnad från på teatern inte kan dela rum med vår publik när vi sänder radio ville vi förstå var vår publik kunde tänkas befinna sig och hur vi eventuellt kunde använda de platser publiken lyssnade ifrån i vårt verk.

Processen och resultatet blev ganska olika det vi ursprungligen tänkt oss, och det har varit mycket lärorikt. Vi har bekantat oss med ett helt nytt mediums utmaningar och möjligheter. Vi har också skrivit i en helt annan genre än vi brukar, och därmed fått öva på traditionell dramatisk komposition.

Den 15 augusti kl 20.35 i P1 sänds första avsnittet av Spöken i maskinen.

Nyxxx (med Tova Gerge bakom tangentbordet) har alltså skrivit fem spökhistorier i samarbete med Drama för unga i Barnradion. Programmet är gjort för mellanstadiebarn och i dialog med dem. Ebba Petréns regi blandar fiktivt amatörreportage med kusligt sagoberättande. Elize Arvefjord har gjort ljudet. Till varje spökhistoria finns också en musiksatt podd där vi får ta del av berättelsen mer ur spökenas perspektiv.

I centrum för radioprogrammet står annars Vendetta Korn (Ester Claesson) som från sin butik med gamla ljudgrejer spelar in egna radioprogram om magi, andar och väsen. I var och en av de fem delarna hjälper hon ett barn som varit med om något oförklarligt. Vi använder det övernaturliga som motiv för att berätta om hantering av sorg och andra stora känslor.

Återstår en fråga att besvara: Vad är det för maskin? Det finns två svar. Det ena är att det handlar om Vendetta Korns ekograf, en maskin som kan fånga upp ljud som det mänskliga örat inte kan höra. Det andra svaret är att vi blinkar till vår gamla favoritfilm Ghost in the Shell där människor blir värdar för kognitiva varelser som uppstått spontant i internets informationsflöden. Vi tänker på människorna i vår radioföljetong som värdar för olika extrema tillstånd. Oavsett om spökena i någon bemärkelse är deras egna eller inte så måste de ändå härbärgera dem, låta sig själva bli spökenas vistelseplatser.

Nämnas kan att Ghost in the Shell i sin tur inspirerats av författaren Arthur Koestler, som använde begreppet Ghost in the Machine som titel på sin bok om olika våldsamma och paranoida tillstånd hos människan. Begreppet tog han från filosofen Gilbert Ryle som använde det för att beskriva problemen som uppstår när man försöker skilja på sinne och kropp, som att kroppen var en maskin och sinnet ett spöke som animerar maskinen. Ryle menar att det inte finns någon skillnad på kropp och sinne; maskinen är spöket och vice versa.

Det är intressant att tänka på människans uppfunna maskiner på samma sätt. I någon bemärkelse är vi radion vi lyssnar på, och radion är oss.

Välkomna till Nyxxx första radioproduktion.

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Avnitten illustreras på webben med originalteckningar av Albin Werle och Gabriel Widing. I rollerna hörs Ester Claesson, Michalis Koutsogiannakis, Rosie Björkman, William Winter, Mathilda Lindström, Sinit Bein, Danait Bein, Laila Torsson Berger, Joline Gustafsson Hällkvist och Ebba Petrén.

Radio Nyxxx tar sina första steg

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On September 16, 2015

In Process, Swedish (Svenska)

 

användUnder våren 2016 kommer Unga radioteatern att sända följetongen Radio Nyxxx i fem delar. Radio Nyxxx handlar om barn som hör mystiska röster i sina hem, och om en spökrädd reporter som vill fånga rösterna.

Till varje del av följetongen kommer det att finnas en podd, där lyssnaren om den vill kan få höra det som barnen i följetongen har upplevt. För att testa våra betaversioner av podden behöver du ett lösenord till detta inlägg:  www.nyxxx.se/2015/radionyxxxs-beta-poddar/

Sidan är lösenordsskyddad eftersom den innehåller material under process. Om du vill ha lösenordet får du gärna höra av dig till oss på mailadressen radio.nyxxx@gmail.com och skriva lite om vem du är och varför du vill lyssna:

Till samma mailadress kan du också maila om du har lyssnat på någon av poddarna och har idéer, frågor, tankar eller förslag om Radio Nyxxx.

 

Protected: RadioNyxxxs beta-poddar

By

On September 16, 2015

In Process

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Proudly presenting: Dasniya Sommer in residence!

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On March 20, 2015

In English, Event

dasniyaworkshop2

During April 27th-May 4th, Nyxxx and coorganizer Kokoro2 host their first artistic residency together. We have the pleasure to receive the Berlin-based choreographer Dasniya Sommer for a week of reflection and exchange. She, like us, has an interest for interaction and intimacy in her performance work. Together, we want to create a platform for exploring such artistic practices.

In connection to the residence, Dasniya will host a couple of public workshop around one of her important working tools, namely rope. She is also performing at 18.00 on Sunday May the 3rd.

Are you interested in participating in one of the workshops, want to know more about the performance or have other questions? Write to kokoro2.info@gmail.com

About Dasniya Sommer

Dasniya Sommer is a choreographer and dancer based in Berlin. She has trained ballet and yoga since early childhood, and received her formal dance training in Berlin and New York. Between 2007 and 2009 Dasniya Sommer co–founded and developed the venue Schwelle7, an experimental project space in Berlin. Her choreographic focus has for many years been Japanese rope bondage (aka shibari) and classical ballet. Drawing also on her academic studies in ethics and aesthetics, her performances often question stereotypical body concepts and related styles of fetishising. In recent years, she has developed a technique she calls ”messy tying” that combines traditional elements with improvisation principles in a kind of ”punk” bondage.

To learn more about her work, visit her home page: http://dasniyasommer.de/

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Workshop on Yoga and Shibari with Dasniya Sommer

Saturday May 2nd, 14:00–17:00

Since 2007, Dasniya Sommer conceptualizes workshops which combine shibari and yoga. This will be the first time she offers such a workshop in Sweden. Yoga allows us to develop a sense of our own body anatomy. The simultaneous perception of one’s own breathing and body-map is important, as is to be able to meet other bodies while playing with rope. In some of the asanas (yoga postures) we will integrate ropes. The touch of the rope helps clarify one’s investigation of the posture, and mixes the sensual and manual skills of bodies and ropes. In the second part of the workshop, we mix different rope techniques and stir things up. In pair or group situations in which we develop a bodily conversation, we see expressions of queer, grotesque or purely abstract play. We will work here also with methods drawn from dance and contact improvisation, and elements from role-playing games.

Beginners in yoga and rope are equally welcome. There are still free spots.

dasniyaworkshop

Workshop on Self-Suspension in ropes with Dasniya Sommer

Sunday May 3rd, 14:00–17:00

The work MA√ 15 { idiosyncrasy } || sin x = ly – fx2 (see documentation here ) is probably Dasniya Sommer’s most famous self-suspension piece. It gained wider recognition in contemporary dance in 2009 and toured internationally. While acrobatic endurance and virtuosity is one possibility with self-suspension work, there are also many other aspects that this expression allows. It is a dialogue with one’s own body and limits as well as with gravity and sensory experience. It is an opportunity for both meditation and playful exploration. In this workshop, Dasniya Sommer gives tools for entering this practice from the angles that are interesting for the individual, in a group of no more than 10 people.
Some prior experience with shibari technique is beneficial. The workshop is preliminary fully booked.

The Hospitality

By

On March 3, 2014

In English, Event

A game in the space around gifts, loss and collective action.

These days, we are preparing for The Hospitality, a game for Gothenburg Dance and Theatre Festival. We’ll be performing 15-17th of May. The festival just released their whole program, so lots of interesting things to check out.

So far we have done two game tests, at the University of Dance and Circus in Stockholm. This is what it looked like the 30th of January:

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Ok, the floor was not like that for real. But as you can see, we are laborating with different notions of space.

This is what it looked like the 20th of February:
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This was Gabriel photographing me and Ebba through the door while we were busy preparing a spaceship made of cloth – our first test with scenography, that turned out very well. Then the game testers came, and off we went on a two hour trip in – yeah, you guessed it, space!

We will also game test evenings here in Stockholm the following dates:

  • April 17th
  • April 23rd
  • May 7th
  • May 8th

Keep your eyes open for that! But also, don’t miss the full scale game if you’re in Gothenburg mid-May! Here is some more info about the scenario in it’s present state:

In order for another world to be possible, we have to be prepared to lose the world we are already familiar with.

Welcome on board The Hospitality – a space scenario where you together with a maximum of thirty other players will enter in a sort of role-play, a game or a participatory performance where we try out different conditions or situations that are completely different than those of everyday life.

Three game masters will guide you through a number of scenes where you will make decisions, move and imagine that you are traveling off in space in the company of the other players.

This is not a role-play where you are expected to improvise, perform, play theatre or immerse in a character. The role you will receive is just some simple approaches, tasks and thoughts that you can use in the game – it is made in order for the players themselves to choose how much they wish to pretend to be someone else.

The hosts and game designers are Tova Gerge, Ebba Petrén and Gabriel Widing from NYXXX, a performing arts collective with a strong connection to both the role-playing game culture and the dance world. Among their earlier cooperations are Avatarvaro (Turteatern/Inkonst) and Drömdykarna (Unga Dramaten). NYXXX are looking for new game formats where participants do not have to struggle to find their place, but can lean back and follow a plan, while still sharing a mental and physical experience together with other participants.

The Hospitality is a philosophically stimulating scenario with a nerve of sci-fi. Softness and reflection in an uncomplicated, physical and playful community are some key-words. The scenario happens in a choreocracy – a society where decisions are made through collective movement in space. The choreocratic society decides to initiate a cosmic movement, a travel in space that might never end. During the course of the travel, a lot will get lost – but maybe the loss is important for the community in space?

Welcome!

If you want to check out The Hospitality at the festival, we are here:

In English

In Swedish

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