16. ANTISTATIC FESTIVAL: The Ninth

“The Ninth” is a gallop through Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, racing between absolutism and socialism, defeatism and optimism, populism to vulgarism, humanism to barbarism.

The performance runs through the entire sound landscape of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, broadly known as a “masterpiece of the Western civilization”, “giant and complex”, “sublime”. And in the middle of this “striking example of human spirit” stay the artists - naked and suspicious, not complex but reduced. Nothing triumphant about them, but looking for a connection with The Animal.

The Ninth is based on Giorgio Agamben’s reflection on humanism as an anthropological machine. In his book “The Open Man and Animal” Giorgio Agamben addresses the boundaries between man and animal, and questions the logic of Western civilization, which justifies the procedure of “humanization of man” in the first place on a systematic suspension of animal. Man is defined only in the difference from the Animal. Animal slowly fades away, and in the identity of modern individual grows bigger and bigger emptiness, which we try to fill up with different ideologies. In this way civilization becomes increasingly heavy ideological baggage, an individual gradually collapses under the burden of their imperatives. Or, as Peter Sloterdijk says: “The taming of man has failed… Civilisation’s potential for barbarism is growing; the everyday bestialisation of man is on the increase.”

This event is part of 16th edition of Antistatic Festival for Contemporary Dance and Performance.

A post-show talk with the artists, moderated by Mladen Alexiev

Tickets: Presale until 20 April – 15 BGN; until 8 May – 20 BGN; regular price after 8 May – 25 BGN

The international program of the festival for contemporary dance and performance "Antistatic" 2023 is organized by the "Brain Store Project" foundation and the "Nomad Dance Academy Bulgaria" association, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture, National Fund "Culture" under the "Program for the Restoration and development of private cultural organizations", Goethe-Institut Bulgaria, Metropolitan Municipality - Calendar of cultural events and Polish Institute in Sofia, and in partnership with RCSI "Toplocentrala", "Derrida" Stage and "Etude" Gallery.