Tanzfabrik
Berlin
Stage
Stage
Stage
Stage
Uferstudios Heizhaus
Badstr. 41A, Uferstr. 23
13357 Berlin
Stage
Stage
Photo: eyes screen

Hopeless. – Extinction Room (Part 1)

Performative sound installation by Sergiu Matis

Extinction Room is the first part of the performance Hopeless., in which the pastoral poetry of Greek and Roman antiquity is evoked and reanimated. These nature-culture artefacts, left behind by Theocritus and Virgil, provide a basis on which to explore the idea of nature in western society and its representation in artistic and cultural products, at a time when climate scientists have given us permission to panic. In Extinction Room, the artefacts take the form of recorded sounds of extinct and endangered animal species, collected over several decades by the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Xeno-canto Foundation, and arranged, edited and sonically altered by AGF. The sound installation is activated by performers who recount the stories of these species. Scientific narratives of extinction interweave with myths. Folk songs and dances are brought to life. The emotional load – the sorrow – is intensified by the performers who lead the audience through these traumatic experiences of loss, and of losses yet to come.

In this version of Extinction Room young voices from the neighbourhood and young dance professionals will join the performers of Hopeless. in recounting an ever growing collection of extinction stories in order to bring new perspectives about extinction. This invitation expands the practice outside our group and independent dance scene in order pose the question about the common future of our society.

Sergiu Matis

Sergiu Matis (he/him) is a Romanian choreographer living in Berlin since 2008. He has created dance performances such as «Neverendings» (2017), «Hopeless.» (2019), «Extinction Room» (2019), «UNREST» (2021), «DRANG» (2022) and «Blazing Worlds» (2023). His work has been presented at festivals throughout Europe. Matis´ dance practice can be understood as a tireless search through physical and digitalised archives. His performances provoke intense experiences that break with expectations and strive towards a new understanding of dance. 
Admission free
Registration   here
Please arrive 1/2 hour before the performance starts.

The 2G+ rule applies to this event:
Accordingly, visitors must be fully vaccinated or recovered and must also prove that they have had a negative test on the day of the event. Furthermore, masks are compulsory for all indoor events (medical mask or FFP2 mask).

Attention: The performance on 12.12.21 unfortunately has to be cancelled!
Concept, choreography: Sergiu Matis | With: Manon Parent, Sergiu Matis, Martin Hansen, Nicola Micallef, Gerson Sanca and additional performers | Sound installation, composition: AGF aka Antye Greie | Text: Philip Ingman | German translation: Calvin Lanz | Dramaturgy: Mila Pavićević | Light: Emma Juliard, Sandra Blatterer | Technical management: Andrea Parolin | Sound tech: Martin Lutz | Production: Anna Chwialkowska | Mediation: Paz Ponce Pérez-Bustamante | Animal sounds courtesy of the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Xeno-canto Foundation.
A Sergiu Matis production | Funded by Wiederaufnahmeförderung,  Senate Department for Culture and Europe, coproduced by apap - FEMINIST FUTURE, a project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union |  Supported by DIEHL+RITTER/TANZPAKT RECONNECT, which is funded by the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as part of the NEUSTART KULTUR initiative | Hopeless. – Extinction Room is made possible with friendly support from PSR and Uferstudios GmbH.