Dancing to wake the dead
Nuria Guiu / Ingri Fiksdal: MEDIUM (2022, WP)
In cultures all around the world, there are rites where the body becomes the instrument (or ‘medium’) of communication between the dead and the living world. The body becomes possessed, and the spirit is often manifested through voice, music, movement or dance.
In the modern West, there is little space for the supernatural in everyday life. The new dance performance MEDIUM – created by Nuria Guiu and Ingri Fiksdal – attempts to reopen the universes of the material and the virtual by investigating the body’s triple function: a product of nature, culture, and a channel for supernatural forces.
Today, an abundance of volatile, visual content is created that spreads quickly and widely through the internet. These images also occupy our fantasies, our thoughts and the natural environment. MEDIUM is based on movements from both digital and personal archives.
In addition, historical dances and visual post-internet culture are explored. The performance is inspired by collage. The body becomes a medium where all these images, stories, memories, dreams and desires are expressed. Music is by US noise/drone artists Sunn O))), featuring a new spatialized mix from the group’s Stephen O’Malley.
Nuria Guiu is a dancer and choreographer, in addition to studying anthropology and human evolution. Choreographer Ingri Fiksdal has presented her works at Black Box teater for a number of years, most recently with Fictions of the Flesh during Oslo Internationale Teaterfestival 2021.