Report from the Field: The Nibelungen Cycle
4:00pm–5:30pm
The latest artistic odyssey of Long Island City-based art and performance group Nature Theater of Oklahoma has led them to Germany’s Rhein-Neckar region, where they are currently working on location. Their forthcoming project The Nibelungen Cycle puts an emphasis on “cycle.” NTOK artistic directors Kelly Copper and Pavol Liska are spinning their wheels on a weeks-long bicycle tour through the area’s towns and villages, shooting a film version of the medieval “Song of the Nibelungs” epic in its original setting. Enlisting the participation of local residents–firemen, dogs, small children, public officials and innocent bystanders—the company will tell the beloved tale of Siegfried the dragon-slayer anew and afresh.
At PRELUDE, Pavol and Kelly offer a live report from the field via video hookup.
Each performance will run approximately 15 – 20 minutes. Nature Theater of Oklahoma is presented within the 4:00pm – 5:30pm set. Follow by a short discussion, moderated by Tom Sellar.
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Nature Theater of Oklahoma
Photo Courtesy of the Artists About Nature Theater of Oklahoma: Nature Theater of Oklahoma is an award-winning New York art and performance group under the direction of Pavol Liska and Kelly Copper. Since Poetics: a ballet brut, our first dance piece created as an ensemble, Nature Theater of Oklahoma has been devoted to making the work we don’t know how to make, putting ourselves in impossible situations, and working from out of our own ignorance and unease. We strive to create an unsettling live situation that demands total presence from everyone in the room. We use the readymade material around us, found space, overheard speech, and observed gesture, and through extreme formal manipulation, and superhuman effort, we affect in our work a shift in the perception of everyday reality that extends beyond the site of performance and into the world in which we live.
