Peter Šavel & Jiří Šimek / (still) Invisible woman
I november 2021 hadde den tsjekkisk-slovakiske duoen residenssopphald på Sprang gjennom nettverket Dans Sørøst-Norge. Under opphaldet arbeidde dei med prosjektet (still) Invisible woman.
«SPRANG becomes a refuge for Czech-Slovak performers Peter Šavel and Jiří Šimek, who will have the opportunity to work here for a 9-day residency in which they will further develop the material for their new upcoming performance «(still) Invisible Woman», which will premiere in September 2022 in Prague.
The first source of inspiration for the project was the book Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez, but we are increasingly inspired by our own life experiences and perspectives. The notion of what is «masculine» and what is «feminine» is constantly being reopened and redefined in relation to gender roles and social structures. If we thought that the process of women’s emancipation was over in the 1990s, we were wrong… Today, the gender imbalance is being explored further – how society is structured, how power is distributed, how housework is valued and who contributes to it (along with so many products that are supposed to fit the ‘generic’ man – still perceived in unspoken form as a middle-aged white heterosexual male of average height and weight).
We have chosen to explore and develop the performative material we collect in several different ways. At its core is the performance itself, which is created through methods of improvisation in movement and written or spoken form, revolving around a central theme: how to learn to be a man in a world constructed through «toxic» or «capitalist masculinity»?
One of the basic materials of our work at the moment is crying. As a cathartic moment, as a relief and release, as a side effect of laughter…
Created and performed by – Jiří Šimek, Peter Šavel
Dramaturge – Marta Ljubková
Technical support – Štěpán Hejzlar
Production – Tereza Tomášová
Project manager: Ludmila Vacková
Produced by – Studio ALTA / ALT@RT z.ú.
(still) Invisible Woman is a part of the project “Cooperation of cultural houses Studio ALTA, Bærum Kulturhus and Black Box Teater», which is supported by EEA grants.
The creation of the performance is also supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and the City of Prague
