Blindfolded oracles, Kantian musings about the future of humanity and snatches of instrumental music. As precursors go, there couldn’t be a better initiation of what lies in store than the opening act of a two-day research festival beginning at Adishakti on Saturday.
Hosted by baseCollective, a Vienna-based trans-disciplinary centre for artistic research and arts-based philosophy, which is supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum, a host of universities and the Ministry, the festival will explore a ‘Philosophy on Stage’ format at the edge of philosophy and arts.
‘Philosophy on Stage: The Future Box’, which will set the tone for the event, is a combo of lecture, performance and theatre featuring Nina Bauer, Arno Boehler, Ruchita Buhjbal, Susanne Valerie Granzer.
In a leap of imagination, the artistes will try to paint a future envisaged by Immanuel Kant, especially his cosmopolitan vision for humanity, said Arno Bohler, who founded baseCollective, along with spouse and actor Susanne Valerie Granzer.
“There will be theatrical moments for sure, but the sessions are focused more on the contemplative, and provoking thought and less on entertainment,” he said.
Arno Böhler teaches at the University of Vienna, Department of Philosophy, and at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, in the programme for Cross-Disciplinary-Strategies, while Susanne Valerie Granzer is an actress and professor for acting at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna.
The format of Philosophy On Stage developed by the duo has become an internationally recognised model for artistic research and arts-based philosophy.
The events are woven around the theme, “Truth and Lies in Times of Fake News”, the framing of artistic response to the phenomena, and will also mark the theatrical debut of key concepts that crystallised over baseCollective’s three-month residency at Adishakti from December.
The artists, from diverse backgrounds — art, philosophy, music and theatre, also include prominent figures who led some of the residency sessions. As a collective, they investigate the disturbing fact that the distinction between facts, fictions and fakes has blurred in our post-truth times. What does this mean for today’s aesthetic practices? And for a philosophy to come? And for contemporary politics?
In pushing the boundaries of conventional stage performance, the philosophy on stage format is premised on the concept of matter as not only being a necessary condition to actually fulfill an act, but playing a significant role as semantic determinant.
The baseCollective’s residency at Adishakti last year had produced ‘Love Matters’, an ensemble of sonic portraitures, music, short stories and poetry.
This year, the residency programme included readings and discussions on philosophers such as Michel Foucault and classical texts of Abinavagupta, framing an artistic response to the complex concept and finally their adaptation to stage.