The Manufactured Series Symposium: Duets #1–6

The “Manufactured Series” is conceived as a series of ten duets between a human and a nonhuman body. The nonhuman bodies within the work are mainly handcrafted. That is, the Series focuses on things that have a relation with the human hand in their process of coming to be. Over the past three years, Frankfurt choreographer Fabrice Mazliah and his colleague Marialena Marouda have invited six fellow choreographers to enter into dialogue with a handmade object of their choice. Each duet unfolds the encounter between the two bodies and their consecutive intertwinement.

The Symposium brings the first six duets together and attempts a reflection on the Series so far. The audience will have the opportunity to witness all the duets in the course of one  – or more – days and the powerful dialogue that emerges between them. Visitors can observe how a radio, a porcelain cup, a pontian lyra, a fishing rod, a book and a sex doll each invite their human partners into a dance of playing and being played, reading and being read, touching and being touched in a way that transforms both bodies and affords them with new possibilities for movement. 

Discoursive Programme

Agency emerges from the relation between bodies and does not preexist this relation. This proposition runs as a red thread through all the duets of the Manufactured Series. In a discursive programme during the Symposium, we invite the audience to explore this idea both from a theoretical and a somatic standpoint. Among others, dance theorist Martina Ruhsam will hold a lecture on the current relevance of objects within the performing arts, introducing Karen Barad’s concept of intraaction as a way of understanding choreography. Fabrice Mazliah will propose a workshop focusing on the fundamental modalities for movement used in each of the duets of the “Manufactured Series”. During the closing day of the Symposium, Mousonturm dramaturg Anna Wagner will enter into conversation with the team of the Manufactured Series about their experiences during the development of each of the duets.

 

Duet #1-6 on Saturday:

14.00 Uhr Duet #1
15.30 Uhr Duet #3
17.00 Uhr Duet #2
18.00 Uhr Abendessen
19.30 Uhr Duet #4
21.00 Uhr Duet #5
22.00 Uhr Duet #6

‘The Manufactured Series Symposium: Duets #1–6’ is a project by Fabrice Mazliah/Work of Act in coproduction with Künstlerhaus Mousonturm in the frame of Tanzplattform Rhein-Main.