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{SIGNA} SIGNA is a Copenhagen based performance-collective, consisting of the performance and installation artist Signa Köstler and media performance artist Arthur Koestler. SIGNA is currently one of the most renowned, innovative and influential theatre and performance groups in Europe. From 2005 to 2013, architect, set and costume designer Thomas Bo Nilsson had also been part of SIGNA.

Career
Since 2001, Signa Köstler (nee Sørensen) has staged her performance installations under the name of SIGNA. In 2004 Arthur Köstler joined, followed by Thomas Bo Nilsson in 2005, who left the collective again in 2013. Together with an ensemble of international actors SIGNA perform in abandoned buildings or derelict land. With their radical and consequent approach to performance, SIGNA have given the term site-specific theatre a new meaning. They are the pioneers of immersive theater, as SIGNA do not only perform at a certain site, they also create a self-contained world, which the audience can experience and explore themselves. Performances last between 3 and 288 hours at a time, depending on the performance set-up the audience can choose how long they want to stay in the installation.

Signa Köstler studied art history, film studies and media studies, at the University of Copenhagen. In 2001, she began experimenting with installation as an art form. At the beginning of her career she financed her installations by working as champagne girl in night clubs. In several interviews she describes the experiences and impressions from this period as being essential and vital for her artistic development. In her works, Signa Köstler began to explore the boundaries between closeness and intimacy by becoming part of her installations. With often controversial issues such as power structures, dependencies, exploitation and due to the radical form of her performances, she soon gained the reputation as one of the most innovative and leading European performance artists and - directors. Her installations grew, they became larger and involved more actors. She has received numerous awards, including the Bisballe Prize (2005) and in 2008, she had been invited to the 45. Berliner Theatertreffen with the performance Die Erscheinungen der Martha Rubin.

During the work on the performance 57 Beds, she met the media and performance artist Arthur Köstler. Together they founded the performance collective SIGNA. The Austrian Arthur Koestler had previously been frontman of the experimental post-rock band PEST (1995-1997), with international tours and record contracts. In 1998 he moved to Copenhagen, where he realized multimedia installations and performances with different Scandinavian artists and musicians. Arthur Köstler designs the multimedia parts of the installations and additionally creates the film and sound recordings – partly together with the photographer Erich Goldmann – which are part of the installations and also form part of the extensive documentations. Also in their private life Signa and Arthur Köstler are a couple, they have been married since 2005. For the production "Schwarze Augen Maria" 2013/14 - Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg - Signa Köstler created the set design. Here she collaborated with the scenographer Mona El Gammal the first time, who had previously worked as assistant set designer in SIGNA's "Club Inferno". Co-director was Sebastian Sommerfeld.

SIGNA founded her success in Germany with the performance "Die Erscheinungen der Martha Rubin" at Schauspiel Köln, for the opening of the new season under artistic director Karin Beier, in 2007. The length and also skale of the performance was especially remarkable. Like "The Black Rose Trick" in Malmö in 2005, "Die Erscheinungen der Martha Rubin" was a non-stop performance. For the performance an entire village - consisting of 21 houses - was built in Halle Kalk on an area of 1480 m². The village was inhabited by the performers throughout the entire performance period. In three blocks of 72 or 48 hours each, the audience could visit the village including military station any time and move around freely and also get involved in the action. This was the first production of Schauspiel Köln under artistic director Karin Beier to be invited to the Berliner Theatertreffen in 2008. Logistically, it was one of the most elaborate performances in the history of the Berlin Theatertreffen, all houses had to be transported from Cologne to Berlin by truck. The performance in Berlin with 2184 m² and 26 houses was then even somewhat larger than in Cologne. It was performed in the Lokhalle of Tempelhofer Südgelände. During Theatertreffen, the performance went on for more than 250 hours non-stop. The performance "Salò" in Copenhagen in 2010, has probably been the most controversially discussed performance of SIGNA, because of its explicit depiction of violence or sexual activities. Again SIGNA return to their core issues – examining totalitarian regimes and sexual exploitation, as well as questioning power structures. While in previous works, the group was only occasionally referring loosely to literature or historical events, now for the first time they were relating to a specific film Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom by Pier Paolo Pasolini and were also making reference to the book 120 Days of Sodom by Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade. The plot was transferred into nowadays Copenhagen. The group showed their interpretation of the controversial material in four playing blocks, inspired by de Sade's division. Each block lasted seven or five days and was performed non-stop. The explicit scenes and the duration of the performance caused great debates about the boundaries and freedom of artistic expression, in the Danish feuilleton, but also internationally. The production was nominated for the Danish Reumert prize.

After "Die Erscheinungen der Martha Rubin" and "Die Hades Fraktur" – "Hundsprozesse" had been the third work of SIGNA for Schauspiel Köln. The performance was based on Franz Kafka's The Trial. The audience took on the part of Mr K and could explore their trial for hours in a maze of interrogation rooms, court rooms and offices. The performance took place in a former vehicle licensing office in Cologne-Ehrenfeld on approx 3100 m², 79 rooms were open to the public, another 20 contained additional sound installations. The audience logistics confronted SIGNA with a particular challenge. The audience had to be logistically distributed and sent through the building, in order to visit all rooms, but at different times. Although the problem of audience logistics was in someway related to the Travelling salesman problem, it was too specific to use already existing software. Thus, a special computer program was developed by Wolfgang Holzinger, to cope with the audience logistics and lead the audience through the performance space.

Theatre

 * 2001–2002: „The Twin Life Project“: different places in Copenhagen
 * 2003: „Night Finder I“: Junge Hunde Festival Bremen and Kanonhallen Copenhagen
 * 2003–2008: „The Games“, different places in Denmark, Freaks, Friends and Players Festival Junges Theater Bremen: Odessa - Ukraine, Varna - Bulgaria, Cordoba - Argentina, Bilbao- Spain
 * 2004: „57 Beds“: Kanonhallen, Østerfælled Torv, Copenhagen, Denmark
 * 2004: „Secret Girl“: Meiningen, Germany
 * 2005: „The Black Rose Trick“: abandoned factory building, Suezgatan 11, Malmö, Sweden
 * 2006: „The Silvana Experiment“: Kunstforeningen Gammel Strand, Copenhagen, Denmark
 * 2006: „Seven Tales of Misery“: Plex - Musiktheater Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
 * 2007: „Die Erscheinungen der Martha Rubin“: Schauspiel Köln Halle Kalk, Germany
 * 2007–2008: „The Dorine Chaikin Trilogy“: Turbinehallerne, Adelgade 10, Copenhagen, Ballhaus Ost Berlin - Germany, Steirischer Herbst, Graz - Austria
 * 2008: „Die Erscheinungen der Martha Rubin“: 45. Berliner Theatertreffen, Berlin - Germany
 * 2009: „Die Hades Fraktur“: Schauspiel Köln, Germany
 * 2009: „Germania Song“: Central Theater Leipzig, Germany
 * 2010: „Salò“ based on Pier Paolo Pasolini's Salò]], or the 120 Days of Sodom, Republique Theatre Copenhagen - Denmark
 * 2011: „Die Hundsprozesse“: Schauspiel Köln based on Kafka's The Trial - Germany
 * 2011: „Das ehemalige Haus“: Salzburger Festspiele - Germany
 * 2011: „Bleier Research, Inc“: Tallinn, in cooperation with European Capital of Culture Tallinn, Estonia
 * 2013: „Club Inferno“: based on Dante's The Devine Comedy, Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin - Germany
 * 2013/2014: „Schwarze Augen, Maria“, Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hamburg – Germany
 * 2014: „Ventestedet“, Republique Theatre Copenhagen - Denmark

Film
Awards
 * „Circle of Mania“ shown in Reykjavik at Sequences Festival 2011
 * „Hundsprozesse Zi.102-128“ shown in Linz at Crossing Europe Filmfestival 2012
 * 2005: Malmö-Lundapriset „The Black Rose Trick“
 * 2006: „Seven Tales of Misery“ nominated for Reumert Preis
 * 2006: Danske Sceneinstruktørers Hæderspris
 * 2007: „Dorine Chaikin Institute“ performance of the year by magizin zitty
 * 2007: „Dorine Chaikin Institute“ nominated for best set design of the year in Theater heute
 * 2007: „Die Erscheinungen der Martha Rubin“ nominated for best set design of the year in Theater heute
 * 2008: Invited to Berliner Theatertreffen 2000 bis 2009 with „Die Erscheinungen der Martha Rubin“
 * 2010: „Salò“ nominated for Reumert Preis
 * 2011: „Hundsprozesse“ nominated for best set design of the year in Theater heute

Literature

 * P. Michalzik: Die sind ja nackt!: Keine Angst die wollen spielen. Gebrauchsanweisung fürs Theater ISBN 978-3-8321-8066-9
 * Sebastian Kirsch: SIGNA oder Der Sinn für die Unwirklichkeit Die unheimlichen Welten von Signa Sørensen und Arthur Köstler Theater der Zeit ISSN 0040-5418
 * Barbara Burckhardt, Eva Behrendt: Brave old world Theater heute 5/2008 S.30
 * Benjamin Wihstutz: Der andere Raum: Politiken sozialer Grenzverhandlung im Gegenwartstheater, Diaphanes: Zürich 2012. ISBN 978-3037342534
 * Andreas Wink: Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Freiheit Theater heute 6/2011 S.32

Press

 * Documentation and reports about Die Erscheinungen der Martha Rubin on Nachtkritik.de: Ruby Town – Signa beim Theatertreffen 2008
 * Peter Kümmel: Begehbarer Albtraum In: Die Zeit, 28. April 2011, Nr. 18
 * Uwe Mattheis: Frische Hasen aus dem Osten In: taz, 22. August 2012

Radio

 * Das Salzburg Syndrom - Thomas Oberender im Portrait Artarium 28. August 2011
 * Zehntes Young Directors Project in Salzburg - Auftakt im Einfamilienhaus oe1 ORF Kultur 17. August 2011

Weblinks

 * SIGNA's official website
 * Steirscher Herbst Performance 2008