Festwochen reframed: Boris Nikitin, Kukuruz Quartett - 24 BILDER PRO SEKUNDE

Like Versuch über das Sterben (Attempt on Dying), Boris Nikitin’s new work 24 Bilder pro Sekunde (24 frames per second) is based on his reflections on vulnerability, not as a shortcoming, but as an ability. This time he swaps words for music and dance. When bodies are no longer under control, motion becomes random. With gestures that have no meaning, and twitching that represents nothing. A form of resistance against human beings as thinking machines. Six dancers of different backgrounds and physical disposition perform an imperceptible transition from everyday gestures to abstraction. The renowned Kukuruz Quartet structures the space with Julius Eastman’s Gay Guerilla for four pianos, a lesser-known yet notable composition of the 20th century. Delicate ramifications and drifting sound carpets burst through as pulse generators for the dancers’ movements. The dissolve of video projections references the spectral and the ghostly. A crescendo of exertion.