Ben J. Riepe offers an insight into an experimental arrangement: in sight of the audience, he arranges his performers in a varied sequence of image compositions, different aesthetics of body transformations and chains of association. Landscapes of posing bodies emerge. Live and unpredictable. Specifically for the festival FAVORITEN 2016, the choreographical arrangement of the 2015 work Untitled: Persona is being transferred into a new format. Within the frame of the Livebox – a kind of oversized diorama – the presentation surface forms on 3×3 meters and introduces a game between the dimensions of image and depiction, which immediately refine and dissolve again. The ephemeral focus and the observation of man himself are thereby placed at the center. The human body wanders between image axes and image surfaces, supercharge and discharge, masking and demasking, object and subject, history and present. Through this central motif of metamorphosis, Livebox: Persona deals with the factual and sensual process of perception in the moment, as well as the loss and regain of existential corporeality. A factual, but at the same time sensual evening dedicated to what our glances do and what we do when we are glanced at.

Choreography, stage design, sound design: Ben J. Riepe
With: Laura Burgener, Lenah Flaig, Daniel Ernesto Müller Torres, Sudeep Kumar Puthiyaparambath, Simon Hartmann
Dramaturgy: Felizitas Stilleke Kleine
Costume: Ben J. Riepe, Margit Koch
Costume assistant: Gwen Wieczorek
Objects: Ensemble
Technical direction: Malte Lehmann
Box construction: Felix Ersig
Production management: Ronja Landtau
Organization: Izaskun Abrego
PR: Susanne Ruprecht
Documentation: Bianca Bachmann, Okba Hzeem
Photos: Ursula Kaufmann

Untitled: Persona is a production of Ben J. Riepe, co-produced by PACT Zollverein, Essen and Ballhaus Ost, Berlin. Funded by Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, Kunststiftung NRW, Kulturamt der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf and NATIONALE PERFORMANCE NETZ (NPN) Koproduktionsförderung Tanz aus Mitteln der Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien aufgrund eines Beschlusses des deutschen Bundestages.

Is it the senses that guide us, or is it the framing?

Theater festival FAVORITEN 2016 Jury award:
Laudatio-jurypreis-livebox-persona.pdf