Jo Fabian

Jo Fabian (born January 28, 1960 in Berlin ) is a German artist who works as a director , set designer , lighting designer , catagraph , video artist, actor and author . Fabian developed the alpha system, a system for translating text into dance.

biography

Fabian was born in East Berlin as the grandson of a mathematician and composer on his father's side and a painter on his mother's side. He studies acting in Rostock. In 1982 Fabian played the role of Helmuth in the television film Come with Me to Chicago . In the second half of the 1980s he initially went to the theaters in Gera and Meiningen as an actor . He (s) soon developed his own way of looking at the theater . In addition to poetry and prose, Jo Fabian wrote his first pieces during this period, some of which (Nora, Nebel and Waiting Room) were premiered under his direction in the Landestheater Meiningen . However, he was refused admission to the GDR Writers' Association and the State Security had been interested in the unorthodox young director for years. From 1987 he worked as a freelancer, initially with the student theater "Louis Fürnberg" at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig, where he staged "Baal" and "Prometheus. Exemple in motion". In 1989 he directed Example No. P at and for the Bauhaus Dessau and studied at the same time a. a. the architectural and stage design works by Oskar Schlemmer , Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Adolpho Appia . In 1989 he founded the independent project group example dept. With actors from the Bauhaus production, which settled in Berlin.

In the theater under the roof in the Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg, which is very suitable for his experimental research work, was created from 1992 with example dept. the unmistakable signature of what he calls the theater of moving architecture, which merges all genres and media on the stage. Jo Fabian directs , creates stage sets and lighting , makes video films, composes and draws. The structures of the Nô theater can be recognized in his productions as well as influences from the visual arts, especially those of the surrealist René Magritte or the geometric spatial perspectives by MC Escher . Again and again, the ironic examination of German history and the present also plays a major role.

Parallel to his free theater work with his Berlin group example dept. Jo Fabian stages continuously at city and state theaters, e.g. B. at the Landestheater Dessau, where his two productions Hamletmaschine and Parsifal are premiered, as well as at the Tanztheater Cottbus, where he works for the first time with dancers of classical origin, with whom he a. a. the Ocean Trilogy and Baal.Tanz.Tod (a dance theater version of Brecht's Baal) developed.

In the mid-1990s he produced several works that were primarily influenced by the philosophical and scientific ideas of Odo Marquardt , Werner Heisenberg , Stephen Hawking and Siegfried J. Schmidt . Subsequently, Fabian devotes himself increasingly to individual examinations of the various theater branches of music ("Die Krähe"), drama ("Perlimplin") and dance (the first works with the alpha system Blown Away / 1999 and Lighthouse / 2000) in order to use them in the future to be able to reunite in a new form. The video works, which were originally only developed for the respective productions, are increasingly taking on an independent character.

The German Producer Prize for Choreography was awarded to Fabian in the summer of 1999 for his overall work to date at the Berlin Academy of the Arts. It is one of the most highly endowed prizes for free artistic work in Europe. With this price the third Alpha System piece is produced: The Dark Side of Time (spring 2001).

The exhibition Tristan und Isolde, produced in the summer of 2001, shows a border crossing to the field of the fine arts. not touching (2001), which, by re-using the alpha system, enables interaction between the audience and the actors in a showcase using a computer keyboard. The Steinberg productions. born to be wild (2000) and Die Idioten. the piece (2002), on the other hand, are most likely to be assigned to text-centered political theater. At the same time as the premiere of Die Idioten.dasstück, Department and Jo Fabian are publishing the Idioten texts as an elaborately designed book in a limited edition.

Another socially critical inventory was taken in 2003 with the double production of Whiskey & Flags. Reconstruction in 2003, a revival of the cult piece in the original line-up from 1994 and ten years after (a theatrical concert). For a large project on the occasion of Salvador Dalí's 100th birthday in May 2004, he devoted himself to researching what he called spectral surrealism and staged a two-part Dali project at the Kassel State Theater . In 2005/2006 three more works were created with the alpha system, which, with the help of an interface that controls the dance, light, music and video modules, give the viewer the opportunity to significantly influence what is happening. Through the co-production with the cie. Toula Limnaios is the first time another choreographer is working with Fabian's alpha system. For him, the possibilities of post-dramatic theater seem to have been exhausted and the theatrical communication models are being redefined. In the years 2011–2016 there is an intensive collaboration with the Theater an der Ruhr in Mülheim.

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Theater productions

Extracts

• "Example N ° P" (1989, premiere at the Bauhaus Dessau / Landestheater Dessau)
• "To play or not to play" (1990, premiere at the Staatstheater Cottbus)
• “Hamlet machine. five syllables by heiner müller "(1990, premiere at the Landestheater Dessau)
• "Jogotono" (1990, premiere at the Volksbühne Berlin / theater on the 3rd floor)
• "Work Elisabeth" (1991, premier at the Theater unterm Dach Berlin)
• "Shite Samurai" (1991, premiere at the Leipzig Theater / New Scene)
• "Fish on the beach" (1991, premiere at Staatstheater Cottbus)
• "Parsifal" (1992, premiere at the Landestheater Dessau)
• "Simple Swan" (1992, premier at the Staatstheater Cottbus)
• "Whiskey & Flags" (1993, premier at the Theater unterm Dach Berlin) Theatertreffen
• "Lostills. lost still lifes "(1993, premiere at the State Theater Cottbus)
• “No Mercy” (1993, premier at the Theater unterm Dach Berlin) Theatertreffen
• "The last dancing communist from Prenzlauer Berg" (1993, premier at the Theater unterm Dach Berlin)
• "Hegel's failed vacation" (1994, premier at the Theater unterm Dach Berlin)
• "They walk & they talk" (1994, premiere at the Theater unterm Dach Berlin)
• "BaalTanzTod" (1994, premiere at the Cottbus State Theater)
• "New World Order" (1994, premiere at the Landestheater Tübingen)
• "Materia Dance" (1994, premiere at the Theater unterm Dach Berlin)
• "The Hawking Variation" (1995, premier at Hebbel-Theater Berlin)
• "Pech.Vogel.Kleist" (1995, premiere at the Kleist Theater Frankfurt / Oder)
• "Alzheimer light" (1996, premier at Hebbel-Theater Berlin)
• "Woman in Black [house of lorca 1]" (1997, premiere at Hebbel-Theater Berlin)
• "Unexpected reunion" according to Hebel (1997, premiere at Theaterhaus Jena)
• "Pax Germania" (1997, premier at Hebbel-Theater Berlin)
• "The Crow" (1998, premiere at the Sophiensælen Berlin)
• "Perlimplin [house of lorca 2]" (1998, premier at Hebbel-Theater Berlin)
• "Tactics for evolution" (1998, premiere at the Theaterhaus Jena / E-Werk Weimar)
• "Blown Away. the invisible homepage of T.Rex "(1999, premiere at the Theater am Halleschen Ufer Berlin)
• "The other side [house of lorca 3]" (1999, premiere at Hebbel-Theater Berlin)
• "Lighthouse. [alphasystem 04] "(2000, premier at the Theater am Halleschen Ufer Berlin)
• "Steinberg. born to be wild "(2000, premier at Hebbel-Theater Berlin)
• "I. The eye. Dead angle. "(2000, premier at Glad-House Cottbus)
• "The Dark Side of Time" (2001, premiere at the Hebbel-Theater Berlin)
• "The idiots. dasstück "(2002, premier at Hebbel-Theater Berlin)
• "Victor or The Children in Power" based on R. Vitrac (2003, premiere at the Staatstheater Kassel)
• "Whiskey & Flags. reconstruction 2003 "(2003, premier at Hebbel-Theater Berlin)
• "Ten year after. a theatrical concert "(2003, premier at Hebbel-Theater Berlin)
• "The Dalí project by Jo Fabian" (2004, premiere at the Staatstheater Kassel, director: Jo Fabian)
• 2005, installations
• "Realtime.compiler" (2006, coproduction with toula limnaios, Berlin, die halle)
• "Polka dot. a still life "(2008, Berlin, Orphtheater / HALLE)
• "The Dragon" (2009, Konstanz, StadtTheater)
• “Independent Swan. a crazy concept "(2009, Groningen, Noord Nederlands Toneel / Berlin, the hall)
• Wendelgard.the first level (2010, TJG, Dresden)
• Pimorphoses (2010, Eden *****, Berlin)
• It burns (2011, Theater an der Ruhr, Mülheim)
• Die Weber (2011, Neues Theater, Halle)
• The Empty Space (2012, Theater Magdeburg)
• Werewolf (2012, TJG Dresden)
• Parsifal (2013, Theater Konstanz)
• Galilei (2013, New Theater, Halle)
• Legend of Time (2014, Theater Stuttgart)
• Wilhelm Tell (2014, Theater an der Ruhr, Mülheim)
• CD Friedrich (2014, TJG Dresden)
• Francesco (2015, State Theater Cottbus)
• Nietzsche (2015, DOCK11, Berlin)
• On the big street (2015, Theater an der Ruhr, Mülheim)
• The power of habit (2016, Theater Konstanz)
• Police (2016, Theater an der Ruhr, Mülheim)
• The Physicists (2016, Theater an der Ruhr, Mülheim)

Installations / Performances

• "Autist World" (1996, premiere at the Theater am Halleschen Ufer Berlin)
• "Fast Feet" (2000, German Pavilion / EXPO 2000)
• "Tristan and Isolde. don't touch "(2001, Festspielhaus Hellerau , Dresden / Hamburger Bahnhof / Euroszene)
• "Livingtypes.as" (2005, Berlin, Tesla)
• "Sigmund Freud's bedside table as an echo" (2005, Berlin, Eberswalder Straße 30)
• "Follow me" (2005, Barcelona)
• "Livingtypes.compiler" (2006, Berlin, Tesla)
• "The Advent Pendulum" (2006, installation, Berlin, Tesla)
• "berlin-preussen" the secondlife project 2007
• standard universe. the model (2007, Berlin)
• Polka Dot (2014, internet project)

Publications

• 1988: "Prometheus. Memory forward" (released in Theater der Zeit No. 04/88)
• 1989: "Harmony of War 1 - 3" (released by Henschel Verlag Berlin) • "Die Idioten" (released by the Berlin authors' college)
• 1990: That. in: GDR theater of upheaval. Ed. V. Harald Muller. Frankfurt / M .: Eichborn. "The Nô report". Berlin: Authors college. That. In: Theatertexte 2nd ed. By Peter Reichel. Berlin: Henschel. "Parsifal". Berlin: Authors college. "Shite Samurai. [An adventure level 7 dream about reality] ". Berlin: Autor-Kollegium.
• 1991: "The lost Nora. Approximately after Ibsen and a hundred years later by Fabian and Kristine blinded". A two-woman drama. Berlin: Authors College.
• 1992: Kranz, Dieter: In search of the Grail. Jo Fabian stages the world premiere of his play "Parsifal" at the Landestheater Dessau. In: Theater heute 8. S. 19f. • Stuber, Petra: Partisan manner. Two portraits: Andreas Kriegenburg and Jo Fabian. In: The German Stage 10. pp. 8-14.
• 1994: Odenthal, Johannes: Vaterlandskomplex. A conversation with the Berlin multimedia artist Jo Fabian about the construction of his "catagraphic theater of moving architecture", about tradition and fatherland, about GDR and the market. In: ballett international / tanz aktuell 4. pp. 43–47. • Funke, Christoph: Macabre and magical. A portrait of the Berlin performer, dance theater maker and piece inventor Jo Fabian. In: Theater heute 5. pp. 34–37. • Hüster, Wiebke: Everything for sale - including art. Jo Fabian's premiere "Baal Tanz Tod" with the Cottbus dance theater. In: ballett international / tanz aktuell 8–9. P. 76.
• 1995: Regitz, Hartmut: What is a seismograph? "New World Order" by Jo Fabian in the Landestheater Tübingen. In: ballett international / tanz aktuell 1. S. 55. • Odenthal, Johannes: Much about nothing. The Hawking variant by Jo Fabian in the Hebbel Theater. In: ballett international / tanz aktuell 6. p. 22.
• 1997: Stumpfe, Mario: Jo Fabian - Between Avant-garde and Mannerism. In: Theater der Zeit 3. pp. 40–43. • Stumpfe, Mario: Wilsoniads. The emptiness of the pure form. An essay about Jo Fabian. In: ballett international / tanz aktuell 5. pp. 44–47. • Stephan, Erika: Jena: Romanticism, today - or never? In: Theater heute 8. S. 52. • Wesemann, Arnd: Deutschland-Tänze. To the Berliner Festwochen. In: ballett international / tanz aktuell 11. P. 59.
• 1998: Servos, Norbert: Desks of Fear. In: Theater heute 3. pp. 30–32. • Jo Fabian's original sketches for "Pech.Vogel.Kleist". In: ballett international / tanz aktuell 4. p. 2f. • Regitz, Hartmut: Time as space. Weimar: "Tactics For Evolution" by Jo Fabian. In: ballett international / tanz aktuell 12. p. 58f.
• 1999: Wesemann, Arnd: Jo Fabian's "Blown Away" and the invention of the "Alpha System": In: ballett international / tanz aktuell 3. pp. 34–37. • Giersdorf, Jens Richard: The Dance Theater of Jo Fabian: "Blown Away", "Pax Germania" and "Prometheus". In: Theater Forum 15. pp. 90-96.
• 2000: Wesemann, Arnd: Children's logic. Jo Fabian's first CD-ROM. In: ballett international / tanz aktuell 8–9. P. 19.
• 2002: "Die Idioten. Das Buch" (released by Department Theater GmbH)

• Border Crossings and Intra-National Trespasses: East German Bodies in Sasha Waltz's and Jo Fabian's Choreographies

documentation

1999 cf. Documented theater work. Inventory. Production documentation. Foundation Archive of the Academy of Arts. P. 36. [Materials on "Example No. P", "Jogotono", "Parsifal", "Shite Samurai", "To play or not to play", "Hamletmaschine"]

Web links

• Jo Fabian Department original page Jo Fabian
• The time is not the clock The time / to Dali project
• Maska 2003 exhibition
• Algorithms for Movement CD-ROMs by William Forsythe & Jo Fabian