This year Incubate presents not only a lot of great music, films, visual art and debate, but we’ve asked Zeebelt to put together a theaterprogram that can match the rest of the program. And so they did. We will be announcing one theater addition of Zeebelt in Residence for seven days on a row. We hope you like it as much as we do, as we are very proud to present this to you for the first time.

Ohne Titel #4, 14 Sept, Factorium

Concept, video,drawings: Nicola Unger
Architecture advice, light: Marion Tränkle
Music: Harald ‘Sack’ Ziegler
Performers: Sato Endo, Ola Maciejewska
Drawings, objects: Bärbel Haage Coproduction: Theater Hebbel am Ufer Berlijn, Productiehuis Rotterdam (Rotterdamse Schouwburg)
With thanks to Regierenden Bürgermeister von Berlin – Senatskanzlei für Kulturelle Angelegenheiten, Goethe Institut Niederlande, Zeebelt

In Ohne Titel #4 you enter a dream world inspired by baroque stage design. The decor is a set of 7 screens that are mobile – the whole stage gets animated and literally unfolds in front of the audiences’ eyes. Simple animations are projected onto the shifting spaces, while oversized 2 m paper characters make their journey through them, exposing back and front of the scenes.

Bernard de Fontenelle wrote a little fictional dialogue between a philosopher and a lady (in the piece a fat little girl), using baroque theater as a metaphor for life: life is like a stage.

The philosopher looks at the backside and understands mechanism, rules and context. He sees the ropes, the machines, the tricks. The audience (the fat little girl) looks from the front and experiences awe, seeing nothing but miracles and mysteries. The question appears: are you someone who seeks understanding or someone who prefers mystery, magic and miracles? Does magic disappear when your understanding increases?

Nicola Unger (1974)

Nicola Unger enjoys being an autodidact and suffers from having to do everything herself. She taught herself graphic and audio programs; she publishes her own comics and collects them. Video has become a major tool of expression in the last years and she works hard on finding an original way how to use it. In general her pieces are more inspired by the visual arts. Her projects have been show a.m. at the Productiehuis Rotterdamse Schouwburg, Zeebelt Den Haag, Vooruit Gent, HAU Berlin, Kampnagel Hamburg, La Porta Barcelona, brut Vienna.

[Nederlands]

In Ohne Titel #4 nodigt Nicola Unger de toeschouwer uit in een levensgroot en fragiel universum van papier, licht en projecties waarin niets is wat het lijkt. Hierbij laat zij zich inspireren door optische illusies, verdwijnpunten, de Barokperiode en stripverhalen. De ‘acteurs’ worden vervangen door Ungers eigenzinnige tekeningen en absurde animaties. De voorstelling was eerder in Berlijn, Amsterdam en Rotterdam te zien.

Nicola Unger
De Duitse kunstenaar Nicola Unger woont in Rotterdam. Ze werkt met diverse kunstvormen als theater, installaties, video’s en publicaties. Ze studeerde ‘Angewandte Theaterwissenschaften’ in Giessen en vervolgde haar opleiding bij DasArts. Haar werk was te zien in Kampnagel (Hamburg), Sophiensaele (Berlijn), Vooruit (Gent), TENT (Rotterdam) en de Rotterdamse Schouwburg. In coproductie met Productiehuis Rotterdam maakte Unger eerder Phantom Story, Unserdeutsch en First Person Plural.