Sebastian Matthias:
x / groove space

We shape our urban surroundings collectively, often without even noticing it; this is how we create the daily groove of a city. For three years now, in his performance series groove space, Sebastian Matthias has been investigating the essential features of this specific rhythm: the tactile collective movement of a city. In public spaces, he seeks out those sites of interaction which collectively form the invisible network of a metropolis: their ‘permanent urban choreography’. Sebastian Matthias then translates forms of movement and everyday practices of the inhabitants of the city into an artistic performance. Berlin, Zurich, Freiburg, Jakarta and Tokyo/Düsseldorf have made up the stops on the journey of this dancing research project to date. It brings the public and performers together in a setting in which both groups possess equal agency, and facilitates a shared experience of the feeling of movement, managing to be touching but not intrusive. Sebastian Matthias choreographs relationships – shifts in perspectives, approaches, spatial formations – and through this, collective practice, togetherness, presence. Tanz im August plays host to the last performance in his series, x / grove space, which was premiered in June at the tanzhaus nrw. x / groove space is concerned with cultural crossovers and the points of contact between the urban dynamics of inhabitants of Düsseldorf and Tokyo. In collaboration with the visual artist Yoko Seyama (Berlin/Tokyo) and the sound artist Atsuhiro Ito (Tokyo), Sebastian Matthias creates an open performance space in which the dancers and audience members can collectively produce and experience the grooves of Düsseldorf and Tokyo. The performance artist Masaru Iwai (Tokyo) will mingle with the participants, providing his own intervention.

CHOREOGRAPHY,  CONCEPT Sebastian Matthias VISUAL ARTISTS Atsuhiro Ito (light- and sound installation), Masaru Iwai (video installation), Yoko Seyama (kinetic sculptures, costumes) CO-CHOREOGRAPHY, DANCE Jubal Battisti, Rachell Clark, Lisanne Goodhue, Deborah Hofstetter, Oskar Landström, Harumi Terayama, Idan Yoav LIGHT, TECHNICAL DIRECTION Andreas Harder DRAMATURGY Nanako Nakajima ORGANIZATION + COMMUNICATION AUDIENCE GROUPAkiko Okamoto PRODUCTION DRAMATURGY Mira Moschallski 

Produced by Sebastian Matthias in co-production with tanzhaus nrw, Festival Tokyo, Goethe Institut Tokyo, Tanz im August and SOPHIENSÆLE. Supported by the NATIONALES PERFORMANCE NETZ Co-Production Fund for Dance, which is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the Departments of Culture and Arts of the German federal state, as well as by Kunststiftung NRW, the ministry of family, children, youth, culture and sports of the Land Nordrhein-Westfalen, the Kunst- und Kulturstiftung der Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf and the Japan Foundation.