Monolith

Instrument design

interdisciplinary piece

After their successful first collaboration for A Pole Tragedy, performer Sofie Kramer and sound artist Mári Mákó reunited to create a new pole-dancing piece: Monolith. During a residency at Instrument Inventors Initiative they started their research on creating a new pole-dancing instrument, exploring technical innovation and sensory experience through the means of sound and movement.
Together with ViaZuid they will create a performance that will premier in 2025 at Rooms Festival, Maastricht. In this ecstatic pole dancing trip the pole becomes a sacred object, a gate to a different world where ancient wisdom lies, a forgotten wisdom that hides inside the body. They resurrect the energy of this metallic agent, seeing the pole as a ritualist object that provokes a spiritual experience, while at the same time playing with the cliches of pole dancing and the expectations of the audience. Through interaction between the dancer and the pole, supported by bright white light and futuristic electronic sounds, the audience is left with a hybrid atmosphere between now and tomorrow.

“We see that the mediator, the pole, is encapsulating the modern material world, which we transform with the help of sensory design. By turning the pole into a “living” entity with sounds, we can break down and develop another sense of ritual, connected to performance practice. The process of discovery is then a question of accepting to share control of a process with entities that are different from ourselves, and of being sensitive to the unexpected.”

Credits:
Concept: Sofie Kramer & Mári Mákó
Choreography and dance: Sofie Kramer
Composition and sound design: Mári Mákó
Instrument design: Francesco DiMaggio
Dramaturgy: Joske Koning
Made with support of: Instrument Inventors Initiative, SeptemberMe Festival, ViaZuid, Rooms Festival

links

Premiere: 2022, iii residency, Den Haag

Performance dates:
25 & 26 /01/25: Rooms Festival, Maastricht

Work in progress presentations:
18/06/2022: Flipchart, Instrument Inventors Initiative, The Hague
25/11/2022: Audio Art Festival, Cricoteka, Krakou
20/01/2022: Boring Festival, Teylers Museum, Haarlem
22/09/23: September Me Festival, Amersfoort
23/09/23: September Me Festival, Amersfoort
24/09/23: September Me Festival, Amersfoort