Hofesh Shechter & Antony Gormley: Survivor
A unique collaboration between two artists at the top of their game
Hofesh Shechter & Antony Gormley
Survivor
A unique collaboration between two artists at the top of their game
Barbican Centre
12 – 14 January 2012
Hofesh Shechter turns composer to join forces with sculptor Antony Gormley for one of the cultural events of the season.
Brave and different, Survivor has as its centre an original new score by Shechter set within a visual landscape by Gormley. Together they determine the rhythm and narrative of the work. Says Gormley: “Survivor is a work by Hofesh Shechter, interrupted and reconstructed by Antony Gormley.”
Shechter composes the scores for all his dance works and has been as widely praised for these as for his choreography. Now, for the first time, he focuses his creative energy on the music and its performance. The epic driving themes that propelled his previous works also fuel his score for Survivor.
Visceral and emotional, Survivor is about seeds of feeling, the search for continuity and the deconstruction of spectacle. The scale is vast – Shechter’s 30-strong band, an army of 100 drummers and five men inhabit the Barbican Theatre stage.
Hofesh Shechter says: “In Antony I have found a spirited partner with whom I can re-imagine the visual world in which my music might exist. With a frozen image of his own being, a body, Antony at times expresses more than I can with the many living bodies of my dancers. He’s a choreographer of space and emotion and it’s thrilling to open up the cavernous space of the Barbican and to compose a score to the rhythm of his imagination.”
Antony Gormley says: “We share an interest in bodies in space and Hofesh is a master of time, especially percussive time. It will be an adventure to work with the intelligent bodies of others within the emergent architecture of Hofesh's pulmonary music. The urgency of his work strikes me as being significant for us now. It comes from the divisions at the heart of the world and seems to speak of our predicament of being controlled but desiring extension. We are grappling with being survivors in a world awash with information and events about which we have no control and little direct contact.”
Ends
Press contact for Survivor: Martha Oakes and Sue Lancashire at Martha Oakes PR on 020 8854 5460 / 07798 626555.
Survivor is commissioned by t he Barbican, London and produced by Hofesh Shechter Company. It is supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and by Outset Contemporary Art Fund.
Hofesh Shechter Company is supported by Arts Council England and is Resident Company at Brighton Dome.
About the Barbican
The Barbican Centre is one of the world's leading arts centres, founded and run by the City of London Corporation. It encompasses dance, film, music, theatre, visual arts and creative learning who work together in creating the model of tomorrow's international arts and learning centre. Committed to providing a world-class programme, which inspires, challenges and amazes its audiences, the Barbican is also home to Resident Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Associate Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and Associate Producer Serious. Its Artistic Associates include Boy Blue Entertainment, Cheek by Jowl, Deborah Warner, Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre and Michael Clark Company. International Associates are Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Jazz at Lincoln Center. The architecturally renowned Centre, now Grade II listed, opened in 1982, and comprises the 1,949 seat Barbican Hall, the 1,166-seat Barbican Theatre, the Pit theatre, a 286 seat cinema, the Barbican Art Gallery, a second gallery The Curve, foyers and public spaces, a library, Lakeside Terrace, roof-top tropical conservatory, conference facilities and three restaurants. For more information visit www.barbican.org.uk.
