Cast Witnesses is a research, performance and videoproject around classical archeological reproductions. The historical background of a number of plaster cast collections in Europe and the exploration of so-called touch tours, serve as inspiration for performative research.
Plaster cast copies of classical sculptures represent mostly mythological figures, often incomplete or assembled from diverse originals. Their missing parts are somehow more present to us than the visible remains.
Cast Witnesses relates to these leftover replicas of a past civilization by using the plaster figures as proxies for our collective pains and desires. With tactile and textual interactions, two mediators guide visitors along their disjointed counterparts, in a performative experience that blends speculative histories with therapy.
While standing and waiting to enter the plaster sculpture attic, you might sway on your legs a little, your spine acquiring the best position to accommodate your hip joints, your head tilted to one side. Can you trace the chronicles of your life carried inside your body?
Trailer Cast Witnesses (2017, 25')
Short Iphone fragment of the last scene in Cast Witnesses-performance shot by Titus Elias at Playground Festival in Leuven, November 2016.
Concept:
Sarah van Lamsweerde
Performance:
Michiel Reynaert, Emma Panza, Sarah van Lamsweerde
Advisors:
Fleur van Muiswinkel and Emma Panza
Costumes:
Janneke Raaphorst
Cinematography and editing:
Effi Weiss & Amir Borenstein
Sound and color correction:
Bruits ASBL (Maxime Coton and Miléna Trivier)
Plaster replica’s:
Didactic Museum for Archeology KU Leuven / Allard Pierson Museum
Small casts:
Royal Museum for Art and History, Brussels
Coproduction:
Playground (STUK Kunstencentrum & M - Museum, Leuven), Allard Pierson Museum, Beursschouwburg Brussels and Stichting Tre Tigri (Amsterdam)
Thanks to:
Faculteit Letteren, KU Leuven | With the support of Mondriaan Fund, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Tijl Fonds and Prins Bernard Fonds Noord-Holland
up to top