As distant as the Russian invasion of Ukraine may seem, the possibility of Europe becoming a theater of war has recently become more real than we ever feared—and with it the prospect of being called up. With his new work, the theater director and performing artist Giacomo Veronesi focuses on those who would be mobilized in wartime, namely young males fit for military service.

In his performance for the spaces of Neue Galerie Graz’s BRUSEUM, Veronesi collaborates with a group of men who have been trained in the Austrian military service, the Bundesheer, drawing upon his background in experimental theater and acting techniques. Creating a “safe space” in precarious times, he invites the audience to take a closer look at the shifting perception of the male, potentially militarized body in the context of an approaching war.

The performance challenges the images of heroism and masculinity associated with the military and explores the incomprehensible contradictions of young male bodies that might be trained, armed, and finally destroyed in the name of peace.

Performers: Philipp Finsterer, Christoph Griesser, Selman Kličić, Gordan Kukić, Kenneth Constance Loe, Johannes Mayrhofer, Peter Roll, Marwin Strutz
Concept: Giacomo Veronesi, Sammy Van den Heuvel, Anita Kremm
Physical work: Giacomo Veronesi
Space: Sammy Van den Heuvel
Media design: Anita Kremm

Mediathek

Link

https://2022.steirischerherbst.at/en/program/artists/3667/giacomo-veronesi