no83
how to explain
pictures to a dead hare
OJASOO/SEMPER
NO83 How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare was born in the context of profound changes taking place in the role of the artist in the contemporary society and in how it is perceived. The production addressed the marketisation of art, its marginalisation in the public sphere, and economic vocabulary slipping into discussions about the role of the arts in the society. The context was initially locally Estonian and was based on observation of the public debate, but as it came out later, when NO83 was played internationally at Wiener Festwochen, Theatre de l'Odeon and other venues, these issues were of wider resonance in Europe.
Featuring on-stage references to works of contemporary artists from Joseph Beuys to Christo to Oleg Kulik, and composed to a large extent of carefully prepared sequences of on-stage improvisation, NO83 How To Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare aesthetically combined the approach of performing arts with that of contemporary fine art. NO83 critically addressed the rational and functional reasoning so wide spread currently when discussing the role of art in the society. Therefore among other texts speeches and comments by the then culture minister of Estonia were used in the production, providing for momentous media coverage.
Yet at the center of NO83 was an investigation into the possibility of true communication between the artist and the audience. It focused on the ephemerity of artistic value and in a broader context, the necessity of the superfluous in the contemporary society.
Idea by Tiit Ojasoo and Ene-Liis Semper
Directed and scenography by Tiit Ojasoo and Ene-Liis Semper
Dance scene by Mart Kangro
On stage Rasmus Kaljujärv, Risto Kübar, Andres Mähar or Lauri Lagle, Mirtel Pohla, Jaak Prints, Gert Raudsep, Inga Salurand or Eva Klemets, Tambet Tuisk, Marika Vaarik, Sergo Vares
Duration two hours and 30 minutes, without interval.
Premiere 10 March 2009