Die Cyberberg aka Indirigibles, 2010-11
"Die Cyberberg AKA Indirigeables"
An escaped madman/felon finds refuge in a hillside abode where he settles in to paint and write his memoirs. In his new life he will pursue the studies his mother always wished of him. But outside, the locals behave like automatons, engaging in only a few very specific, humdrum and bourgeois activities, with a uniformity and obedience that threaten to destabilize the mad painter again. Except for the ones that don’t, the Indirigeables, i.e. beings that do not follow directions, or know how to, there is no other lifestyle available to ‘join’, were the felon a joiner.
Shouts of rage
Threats of suicide (throwing himself from the window onto the street below)
The felon writes excuses to his mother in V.O.
Ballet mécanique of the neighbors engaged in their middlebrow, dulled-by-wealth lives— they are the Dirigeables, pouf! Full of hot air
The residents of the Cyberberg communicate only electronically amongst themselves, hence the name of the community and the alienation of the one not online, the felon. They subject themselves to a yoga-and-meditation-based way of leading their lives as if each day were a series of exercises involving the breathing and body sense associated with those disciplines, rising and falling of energy from the balls of the feet to the crown of the head, etc. Diagrams I have painted map these out and can be exhibited.
The Indirigeables are partly hobbled, part machine, part female, part….maelstrom, part (________)…. They are unregulated…They are (________)
Citations from texts about dance as to the movements of the crowds
A voice-over of a choreographer directing dancers should be mixed in with the citations of writings about dance. How to obtain such a thing? Library for the Performing Arts---would they have any audio? Or make use of the soundtracks from rehearsal-themed video works? More cumbersome: who are choreographer/directors whom you know who might be willing to speak into a mic/recorder during rehearsal sometime? Or who would help write a script for a voice-over artist to deliver…
These citations and recordings sort out and highlight the differences between those who can and cannot take direction
Lighting arrangement: take the form of the medieval Stellatum, as described by C.S. Lewis, populated by small tradesmen and thick-headed nuclear families instead of
other forces and matters
Stage: raked, simulating a hillside garden labyrinth and a broken record player at the same time, with stations representing small businesses (cafes, bakeries, groceries,
and other conveniences for the residents of the Cyberberg to wait in line to stuff their face, etc). In another scene, a sort of Rathauskeller.
There exist some paintings, 14”x17” minimalist things in gouache, that illustrate ‘impossible lighting schemes’, the division of the rotating stage into locations defined by a single character or site of exchange, the exaggerated encounter with
bureaucracy by the felon (depicted through the oppressive scale of furnishings, and so on). These are not currently shared on this website but perhaps some scenery will be posted in the future.
The going-nowhereness of The Magic Mountain (Thomas Mann) is one atmospheric influence for this piece; other puns are also to be detected in the title. Another very direct influence on the plans for this piece is Freyer's TOSCANINI PROBT LA TRAVIATA. Also see the origin of the name of the alternative mental health group The Icarus Project for some of the imagery surrounding the 'felon'.