Kometentanz

 

Project Module “Kometentanz” – 1st. Semester, Media Art and Design (M.F.A.)
Under the advice of Lecturer Micky Remann.
Bauhaus Universität – Weimar, Germany.
WS 2013/14

• Multimedial piece that combines 3D and 2D animation in 360° fulldome format.
• Audiovisual design, theater and dance were incorporated to participate in the ‘Fulldome Festival 2014’ in Jena, Germany.
• Animation techniques: 3D animation and modelling combined with digital photography.
• Software: 3ds Max, Photoshop, Premier

 

 

Description

“Kometentanz, Astrale Pantomime in zwei Aufzügen” or “Comet Dance, Astral Pantomime in two Acts”, is the ballet piece written by the german writer Paul Scheerbart in 1903. It is the narrative of an unsatisfied king, surrounded by his court with a poet, harem, magician, servants and a executioner. He is astonished by the presence of the comets, perhaps it is the only thing what makes him feel alive. The piece is a combination of cosmic objects with the human yearning of going beyond what is visible in the earth and communicating with celestial manifestations.

Paul Karl Wilhelm Scheerbart (8 January 1863 in Danzig – 15 October 1915 in Berlin) was also known by his research and publication of the book in 1914 ‘Glasarchitektur’ (Architecture of glass). He was a visionary of his time and a creator of incredible literature, including poetry, architecture, theater and drawings.

He dedicated his book ‘Glasarchitektur’ to the architect Bruno Taut, who was the designer of the “Glass Haus”, built also in 1914 at the Cologne Werkbund Exhibition. The vision of an architecture of colored transparency with no boundaries between human soul and cosmic skies was a fundamental inspiration for the design of the performance and animations.

As Paul Scheerbart wrote:
“ We live for the most part within enclosed spaces. These form the environment from
which our culture grows. Our culture is in a sense a product of our architecture. If we
wish to raise our culture to a higher level, we are forced for better or for worse to
transform our architecture. And this will be possible only if we remove the enclosed
quality from the spaces within which we live. This can be done only through the
introduction of glass architecture that lets the sunlight and the light of the moon and
stars into our rooms not merely through a few windows, but simultaneously through the
greatest possible number of walls that are made entirely of glass —coloured glass. The
new environment that we shall thereby create must bring with it a new culture”.
(‘Glasarchitektur’ Scheerbart 1914 [2000: 13])

The group of students based on the Kometentanz piece a research around the author’s life, epoque and inspirations to figure out how could we imagine a new version of it with a new visual concept and a 2D/3D projection in the planetarium in Jena.

With this purpose, the group had the responsibility to create, design and animate the main scenes in subgroups. I had the pleasure to work in collaboration with Claire Dorweiler, Laura Anzola and Rodrigo Díaz the three central scenes of the whole piece: ‘The dance of the three comets’, ‘the dance of the three comets and the seven stars’ and ‘the Pas de deux’. Moreover, I had the pleasure to represent the 3 comets and create the choreography, makeup and costume of them.

The project was directed by Lecturer Micky Remann and was made in collaboration with “Die ZoManer” theatre company, duo dance “Vainno”, the composers Ludger Nowak, Michael Holz and Rodrigo Diaz, and the Fulldome designers Florian Meyer and André Wünscher.

Links and more detail in:
Summary Festival Weimar, 2014

Planetarium Jena, FullDome Festival 2014