Absence
Eric Joris (Belgium), Peter Verhelst (Belgium), CREW (Belgium) & NTGent (Belgium)
Imagine : something is gone but it remains tangible. This was what theatre maker Eric Joris (CREW) experienced when he travelled to a Japanese village in 2011 four months after the tsunami. The streets and houses were destroyed but GPS still worked, as if there hadn't been any catastrophe at all. The few remains created a visible emptiness. Back home, Eric Joris shared his experiences with author Peter Verhelst (NTGent) who has a great fascination for the Japanese society and is also intrigued by the duality presence/reality and absence/non-reality. Together with dancer Fumiyo Ikeda and actor Frank Focketyn they made the challenging performance Absence, in which state-of-the-art technology will be used to suggest profound absence and emptiness.
Concept & directing: Eric Joris & Peter Verhelst / text: Peter Verhelst / Performers: Fumiyo Ikeda & Frank Focketyn / Music: Bram Bosteels / Technology: Koen Goossens, CREW/Universiteit Hasselt (EDM) /EU consortium Dreamspace / Software Development: Steven Maesen / Technicians: Ferre Carron & Bart Meeusen / Costume design: An De Mol / Preparation design scenery: Jakub Rehak / Realisation scenery: Eric Joris & NTGent / Stage assistant to the director: Tim De Paepe / Coproduction: CREW& NTGent
With the support of: The Flemish Government & the Flemish Community Commission, The Flemisch Literature Fund and the EU Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration / In collaboration with EDM (Expertise centre for digital media), Dreamspace (FP7 ICT collaboration), University Hasselt -iMinds and Natural Point - Optitrack.
