30 Years of Continuo Theatre
The festival 30 Years of Continuo Theatre will be opened by the exhibition of photographs documenting the history of the company from the point of view of some Czech theatre photographers. The exhibition, prepared by curator Denisa Šťastná, will be on public display up to Sunday 25 September.
Denisa Šťastná says about the exhibition:
The photographic exhibition, prepared in cooperation with the Arts and Theatre Institute on occasion 30 years of Continuo Theatre existence, shows motion, gesture, energy as well as contemplative meditation. The intimate collection has been chosen from more than 10,000 photos and presents the beginnings of the theatre as well as its development up to the present time. There are photographs from various performances as well as those from “behind the scenes”. They represent nuances not only of the performances but also the specific fellowship of artists, which shows authentic creative concentration, suspense, expectations of the next moments as well as release of tension after physical and psychic performance. They are not only documents but mainly fascinating testimony. Despite the indisputable professionality of leading personalities Helena Štouračová, Pavel Štourač and other artists, there is not always clear boundary between art and real life. The exhibition also shows the international character of Continuo and its role as an informal educational laboratory of alternative stage art.
More than thirty photographs represent three topics: BODY/SUBSTANCE – PUPPET – SPACE. The photographers have sensitively caught the work with a puppet (mask, object) which is handled as a human being. They bring nearer the intimacy of a passing moment. On the other hand, the pictures of dance and motion make us feel real energy and strong inner contemplation of a body captured in space. The visitors of the exhibition can admire the photos of such performances as Mrakavy, Finis Terrae, Neighbours, Noon, and site-specific projects such as Scars in Stone, Lake Grus Grus, or In the Belly of the Whale, by the photographers who have pursued Continuo Theatre in the past thirty years, like Josef Ptáček, Viktor Kronbauer, Marek Olbrzymek or Michal Hančovský.
Continuo´s production is typical of a fusion of highly aesthetic qualities, expressed especially by movement and visual components, with the ethic dimension. Such topics as persecution of the innocent or courage to face up despotism are shown e. g. through the life stories of Dagmar Šimková or Natalya Gorbanevskaya. Continuo´s particularities invite photographers to be captured, but it is very difficult to do that. It requires not only modesty and related interest but also a professional approach as well as courage to deal with the areas which are difficult to describe in words.
In cooperation with the Arts and Theatre Institute.
Curator: Denisa Šťastná
