A creation by Meg Stuart & Jompet Kuswidananto/Damaged Goods
"For many years, I’ve been thinking about ghosts as unfinished business, and the way in which unresolved conflicts affect both our presence and our movements. Our bodies are constantly shuttling between objects, sounds, lights, voices and unprocessed events from the past. This might awaken a dormant presence, whether we like it or not." - Meg Stuart
For
Celestial Sorrow, Meg Stuart collaborates for the first time with Indonesian visual artist Jompet Kuswidananto. Departing from possession and implanted fictional traumas, they create a vibrant world of light and movement, inhabited by three performers and two musicians. Together the group embarks on an exploratory journey, moving through imaginary and invisible spaces, and the voices that make them resonate. Created with and performed by Jule Flierl, Gaëtan Rusquet, and Claire Vivianne Sobottke, with live music by Mieko Suzuki and Ikbal Simamora Lubys.
Celestial Sorrow was conceived during times spent together between Meg Stuart and Jompet Kuswidananto in Indonesia, premiered as part of Europalia Festival in Brussels, Belgium in January 2018 and has been touring internationally since. Goethe-Institut in collaboration with Komunitas Salihara, and supported by the Federal Foreign Ministry, presents the Indonesia premiere of the piece.
Meg Stuart is one of the most acclaimed contemporary choreographers of our time. Born in New Orleans, she lives and works in Berlin, Germany and Brussels, Belgium. Stuart studied dance at New York University and at Movement Research, where she was able to explore various techniques and become actively involved in the downtown New York scene. In 1991, she presented her first evening-length piece,
Disfigure Study. Her next work,
No Longer Readymade (1993) launched her artistic career in Europe. To develop her own artistic projects, in 1994 she founded her own company in Brussels, Damaged Goods, with which she has created over 30 productions ranging from solos to large scale choreographies. She also collaborates with artists working in various disciplines and has won numerous awards throughout her career. In 2018, Meg Stuart received the Golden Lion of the Venice Dance Biennale for her lifetime achievement.
Jompet Kuswidananto is a versatile Indonesian artist whose work ranges from installations and sound pieces to performances and theatre productions. He studied Communications at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta. Originally trained as a musician, Kuswidananto turned to the visual arts and went on to work within the local Yogyakarta art community. Since 1998, he has been actively collaborating with Teater Garasi, a multidisciplinary collective of artists making works that reflect Indonesian life after the fall of the Suharto regime. Kuswidananto’s practice focuses on the issues of politics, colonialism, power and mass mobilization in post-reformation Indonesia, while also exploring the country’s history and the complexities of contemporary life in a globalized world. In 2014, his installation work won the Prudential Eye Award, a major prize for emerging Asian artists.
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