PINA BAUSCH LE CORBUSIER BOTERO c u l t u r a l c o n t e n t plastic arts photography architecture design movie theater 15th, 2021 / for free content / No. 3 February / Magazine of cultural music 3913 dance literature theater OBJET TROUVÉ In this third installment 3913 continues immersed in the world of dance. This time it’s Pina Bausch with one of her best choreographies, Café Müller, forty-five minutes of pure melancholy. And still with architecture, it’s the turn of one of the greatest of the twentieth century, the great polyphonic, overflowing, plural, Le Corbusier. We end with the colossal Colombian painter/sculptor Fernando Botero and his close connection with the Italian Quattrocento through Piero della Francesca. Idea, concept and production Rosingui Perez and CayDesign. Translation: Helen McNally (Eng). Tipography: Flama Basic, PMN Caecilla. Contact: [email protected] / +34 625 056 562 / +34 644 811 429 / @treintaynuevetrece Every show of hers is a shudder, a shock, a feast for the intelligence and the senses, from which she rarely leaves unscathed. From overflowing joy to the most unfathomable sadness, the territories of the brilliant creator are the uneasy and rugged zones of the human soul, a continuous bustle of splintered feelings, which at the end of each trip When Pina Bausch enters your life, she stays forever. transforms us into images of such pure beauty that it moves and comforts us. Desire and joy, hope and melancholy, aggression and seduction, hysteria and tenderness, euphoria and distrust, nostalgia, anguish and pain for unsatisfied love, loneliness, the isolation between men and women. “Pina Bausch a German dancer and choreographer was born on July 27, 1940, during World War II. She began her dance studies at the late age of 15, at the Folkwangschule in Essen, where she was a student of Kurt Joos and Sigurd Leeder.” he expanded her studies with a scholarship to the prestigious Juilliard School of Music in New York. She danced at the Metropolitan and the New York City Opera where she was influenced by the work of Martha SGraham. Pina Bausch returned to Germany in 1972, where she was appointed director of the Wuppertal Opera House and created the dance company of the same name. She would keep the post to the day she died at 68 years of age June 30th, 2009. Following the doctrines of her teacher, Kurt Joos, Bausch started from the idea that movement is also thought, emotion, action and expression so that every act is dance. Her choreography portrays the human being with all its defects and virtues, taking as a starting point what moves people rather than the movement itself. Her creations do not follow a linear progression rather they are built from a series of multiple episodes or simultaneous stage actions, using striking images, everyday activities, texts directed at the public and a great variety of music ranging from popular hits to classical music. The dancers in Pina Bausch’s works are not related to the ideal of beauty in terms of the body they are very heterogeneous. Pina uses the dancers’ own fears, desires, complexes and their own vulnerability. This leads to the use of many physical and emotional gestures that she integrates in her creations, resulting in tenderness, ironic cruelty and, above all, a lively and raw humanity, forcing the public to confront problems common to all such as death, love, violence against women, relationships between individuals and groups... “We can see how movement and dance steps are not the most important thing but the concept of movement, emotion, impulses and opposition.” “Café Müller” is undoubtedly the most emblematic piece by Pina Bausch. It premiered at the Wuppertal Opera on May 20th, 1978. The extraordinary simplicity and theatricality of “Café Müller”, where a series of chairs act as obstacles for dancers who interpret human sensibilities make this piece a moving work with music by Henry Purcell. The choreographer herself headed the cast of this piece, which was performed for the last time at the Liceu opera house in Barcelona on September 10th, 2008. In this piece we observe two women dressed in white, with their eyes closed, wandering like sleepwalkers through a room. One of them stumbles over everything around her while a man, dressed in black and with a sad expression tries to stop her by moving possible obstacles, such as chairs or tables out of the way. We can see how movement and dance steps are not the most important thing but the concept of movement, emotion, impulses and opposition. In a second scene the figure of the other woman is moved through the air through the manipulation of her by various dancers. When she is close to falling, another dancer places a microphone on her, the woman breathes a long sigh, and then gets back up again, repeatedly. These two women inhabit an area of loneliness and isolation, their movements are always forceful gestures that alternate with dramatic attitudes, with falls, blows, jumps and collapses, where the expression of these heart- breaking gestures is the consequence of the externalization of the internal. The props used are small brown tables and chairs distributed throughout the stage space simulating a cafeteria. The tables are circular, placed at approximately the same distance, producing a feeling of monotony. “The chairs cast their shadow on the wall, like the movement of the dancer’s arms, as if it were an echo, allowing a way of creating movable spaces.” These curved lines express femininity, lightness and movement. The chairs, with a predominance of vertical and horizontal lines, express strength, vigour, weight, solidity and masculinity. There are many more of these demonstrating a greater masculine character than feminine, corroborated by the colour brown. The clothing of one of the women is a long, flowing shiny white satin nightgown with straps that reveal the arms and part of the torso, her hair is tied back, giving the impression of a sane person. The other woman wears a long, off-white nightgown, but with half sleeves and a covered torso, her hair is loose, evoking madness. They dance with their eyes closed as if contemplating their inner world, of loneliness and melancholy. The white of their tunics can have several readings: the luminous white can represent the purity of the soul as if it were a spirit, or the world of dreams; off-white could signify this woman’s suffering and unshed tears. The figure of the man dressed in black, representing seriousness and sadness, does not detract from the dancers. The set is divided into two parts: the right is bounded by two dark walls, forming a heavy and gloomy place, with no lights except the spotlight, which illuminates the dancer when she covers that space. The left side is much brighter due to the light grey colour of the walls and the large white frame doors and glass that reflect the light. The lighting playing with lights and shades helps the play along. The chairs cast their shadow on the wall, like the movement of the dancer’s arms, as if it were an echo, allowing a way of creating movable spaces. The decoration has many vertical, horizontal and oblique lines created by the doors and walls making an angular space. On the left there is a white door with a mirror which one of the dancers runs towards. “This mirror can represent the imagination or consciousness, some philosophers relate the mirror to thought, as it is the mental vehicle where self-contemplation occurs.” This mirror can represent the imagination or consciousness, some philosophers relate the mirror to thought, as it is the mental vehicle where self-contemplation occurs. In the background to the left there is a large glass door, like a mirror, which reflects what is happening on stage. A duality is presented, it is as if this part of the stage space were the side of consciousness and freedom, towards which the dancers run, while the dark area was that of unconsciousness or repression from which they flee. This large door is like a window allowing you to see what is behind it, projecting new rooms or doors, symbolizing the exit to the outside world for which they feel melancholy and longing. As for the music, the noises produced by the movement of the chairs when being pushed aside, the silences and the melodies of Purcell, contribute to creating the magic of this unforgettable show. Have a look at “Café Müller” ! “Le Corbusier, a polyphonic, large, overflowing, plural artist...” arles Édouard Jeanneret-Gris was born on October 6, 1887 in La Chaux-de-Fons, Switzerland. He was the son of a watch engraver and a music teacher. At the age of 14 he began to work with his father as an engraver while he began his studies of Decorative Arts at the CArt school of La Chaux-de-Fons, where his tutor and later mentor, Charles L’Eplattenier guided him towards painting and later towards architecture. A few years later L’Eplattenier got him his first commission as an architect, the “Villa Fallet”. He would use the money from this to see the world. He spent two months in Italy drawing everything he saw, four months in Vienna where he designed two houses, these were commissions that his mentor got for him. He left Vienna to go to Paris and on the recommendation of L’Eplattenier, he went to the studio of Auguste Perret, a pioneer architect in the technique of reinforced concrete construction. He worked for him for a year and a half learning these new concrete construction techniques and the importance of architecture as social change.