MATERIA 2023

Subverting the traditional hierarchy of performer-props-public

MATERIA

The Sphere is proud to present a new derivative work of seed artist Andrea Salustri (Germany)! MATERIA was selected by the Sphere's 300-person collective in 2022 to be the first artwork in a lineage of artworks re-iterated by other artists who would together form an ecology of funding, co-owned by audiences, technicians and circus producers.

The selection also granted Andrea Salustri a residency with Berlin Circus Festival, to go into the roots of his research and experiment with new forms of showing MATERIA. MATERIA is the magical world of objects. This is a pas-de-deux between body and object that comes to life in Materia, a production built entirely on the properties of a common material such as styrofoam.

About Andrea Salustri

Born in Rome but trained in Berlin, following studies of dynamic manipulation and the manipulation of fire which he practiced as a busker, and after earning a degree in philosophy from the Università La Sapienza in Rome, Andrea Salustri moved to Germany where he studied contemporary dance at Tanzfabrik and dance and choreography at the HZT Berlin. A transdisciplinary training that he brings into circulation in Materia, where he shapes a world of objects to manipulate, transform, to follow with the body and reveal their secret vitality.

On stage a man alone with styrofoam panels and spheres. Subverting the traditional hierarchy of performer-props-public, Andrea Salustri shifts the attention from the juggler (for whom the objects are the tools of his skill), to manipulation (where the focus is on interplay) and finally to the objects themselves, which become an active part and transform the performer from the protagonist to a mere facilitator, The effect is that of “an odyssey of objects” (The Guardian) that hypnotizes the viewer, allowing him to discover the wonder of life. Working from the central role of the juggler in the contemporary circus, Salustri reaches new territory between the contemporary circus and choreography, transforming the performer into “a facilitator, constantly shifting the focus of the performance between the object, its manipulator and the manipulation”.

The study he developed for Materia later extended beyond the stage, to the creation of art works made from the styrofoam waste collected at the end of every performance and with the search for total sustainability through an original form of composting.

The Sphere

By redistributing the risks and opportunities of making Circus art, The Sphere creates a new ecology in which audiences co-own the artworks they love together with the artists, collectors and other stakeholders of a given project. Watch out for Berlin Circus Festival 13-20 August 2023 in Berlin at Tempelhofer Feld!

We are also overjoyed about our very first lineages forming through Marija Baranauskaite and Utka Gavuzzo re-making Andrea Salustri's Materia, as well as Cecile Manfrini re-making C8H11N02, originally created by Room 100.

We’re back very soon with more peaks into the residency experiences.

Thank you to our partners and collectors!

The Sphere is a transdisciplinary research-creation project for the development of a digital infrastructure for self-organization in the performing arts.