PUNKT

The first aerial picture taken by the aeronaut Nadar opened a totally new perspective in the way people perceived space. His point of view – from a higher point in space, in a specific point in time – opened a new era. In his novel Levels of Life, Julian Barnes speaks of this moment as a turning point in human cognition. The perspective from above allowed us to look at our lives and ourselves better - as if the surface of the planet became a kind of mirror in which we saw our own reflection. Height opened the possibility of depth in a way it had not existed before. 

Height and depth are a matter of perspective (a point of view) as well as scale. The painter and theoretician Wassily Kandinsky wonders at what point a point is no longer a point. What are its limits? “Externally, the point may be defined as the smallest elementary form, but this definition is not exact. It is difficult to fix the exact limits of the concept “smallest form.” The point can grow and cover the entire ground plane unnoticed - then, where would the boundary between point and plane be?”

In PUNKT a trio of performers toy with the idea of flying: Bahar Temiz, together with Amanda Barrio Charmelo and Igor Shyshko, walks the lines between dance and visual arts to investigate themes such as elevation, expansion, air, breath and change of perspective. While they explore heights within the limitations of their body, their voices allow them to reach outside their body, towards space. Charo Calvo develops the idea of 3.1 speakers expanding the sound field around the audience. The extreme spectrum of the music reinforces the idea of free fall and gravity. The scenography by Pol Matthé deals with this “smallest elementary form” by developing the idea of a corner, a point as the intersection of three planes. Set against the soundscape and scenography, PUNKT becomes a sophisticated play of highs and lows. The three bodies relate to this metaphorical space of lines and points in a way that each point marks an end but also a beginning.