Elena Lydia Kreusch

CONVERSATIONS IN MOTION — A Performative Exploration of Human-Machine Interaction

Artistic Research Project 2023

‘Conversations in Motion’ explores the potential of AI as a collaborator in an artist's creative process. It is an artistic journey of human-machine dialogue and co-creation, examining ways to expand the artist's creative horizon and to push the boundaries of traditional performing arts. 

Throughout the research process, the artist will create performance elements as well as video and installation elements, aiming toward a multi dimensional immersive experience.
The project wishes to contribute to the ongoing discourse about the role of technology in artistic expression.

Artist Researcher: Elena Lydia Kreusch (DE)
Research Collaborators: Ali Clarke (IRL)
Support: Fonds Darstellende Künste aus Mitteln der
Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (DE)

IN THE MAZE OF YOUR PERCEPTION, I RESONATE…

by Kreusch_Salustri, Production 2021
(Premiere: 9. + 10.11.2021, ON THE EDGE#9, Vienna)

Video Credits (unedited raw material): Christian Schratt

"In the maze of your perception, I resonate…" is a collection of artworks of diverse nature from soundscapes to video art, to interactive installations, that can be navigated freely by small
groups of audiences.
The presented selection is part of an ongoing research project led by Elena Lydia Kreusch and Andrea Salustri, who embark together on an experimentation around alternative and non-performative formats for contemporary circus.
Their work challenges established perspectives onto circus practice, while fully embracing the thrill of the intangible.
Circus bodies and disciplines are being deconstructed, circus gestures are being reframed, circus objects are being emancipated and the audience is invited to engage differently with a genre they are
familiar with.
Kreusch_Salustri play with the intrinsic elusiveness of circus, using elusiveness itself as an artistic medium.

ARTICULATIONS

Production 2019, stage performance (40 min.)
(Premiere: 12. - 15.09.2019, Dublin Fringe Festival)

How does our personal history inscribe into one’s body? What traces remain legible?

Using a video (live) stream, the performer conducts a self exploration of her body on stage.
Oscillating between intimacy and dissociation, different qualities of physicality simultaneously emerge on stage and on the screen challenging the audience’s perceptions of physical presence and their own affective responses.

WIENER TEPPICH

Production 2020, Art Video (14 min.)
(Premiere: 26.12.2020, Circus Festival Berlin)

A 250-meter-long red carpet - originally intended for the second edition of the interactive performance ‘Wiener Teppich’ is cut into differently sized parts in the wake of COVID-19 and converted into mobile video sets in two social housing projects in Vienna.
The image of artists and residents on a piece of carpet stands as a metaphor for “social distancing” and at the same time for a unifying action that overcomes the barriers between those involved.
The video is also a contemporary portrait of two important municipal and social housing projects in Vienna, their special architecture and diverse residents.

FRAGMENTS

Production 2020, multi screen video installation

FRAGMENTS deals with the interface of virtuosity /vulnerability, allowing for an unusual perspective on the construct of the circus body.

The multi-screen installation plays with the juxtaposition of different video loops; through constantly changing image constellations, unexpected dialogues arise and new contexts of meaning and spaces for reflection open up. 

The installation is based on self-generated video footage as well as curated sequences of Screen Circus works, which were subsequently modified by the artist.

WIENER TEPPICH

Production 2020, Music and Performance Parcours (2h)
(Premiere: 18.10.2019, Karl Wrba-Hof, Vienna)

As part of the 'Wiener Stadtlabore', the courtyard of the 'karl-wrba-hof' transforms into an interactive stage: four contemporary circus groups, a rap duo, classical musicians and a choir enter into a dialogue with the architectural features of the social housing complex. Through their spatial interaction, the audience creates group dynamics and moods, feelings of solidarity and cooperation. Thus, the audience becomes, without realizing it, a decisive part of the dynamic aesthetics of the space.

ARTISTIC MENTORING / OUTSIDE EYE

Elena works as an outside eye / artistic advisor on a freelance basis.
Some past examples:

2022 Artist advisor: dis.cover by Ariane Öchsner
2021 Artistic advisor: ‘Hommage an den Ball’ by Ralph Öllinger
2020 KreativKultur: Artistic advisor, artist in residence programme circus re:searched (AT)
2019 Squarehead Productions: Artistic advisor, ‘Stickman’ by Darragh McLoughlin (IRL)
2018 Festspielhaus Berlin: Artistic mentor, experimental lab format 'Die Originale' (DE)
2017 KreativKultur: Facilitator, several DasArts feedback sessions (AT)
2017 Squarehead Productions: Outside eye and artistic mentor, square:LAB III (IRL)
2017 Squarehead Productions: Outside eye and artistic mentor, square:LAB II (IRL)
2017 Squarehead Productions: Outside eye and artistic mentor, square:LAB I (IRL)
2016 Studiobühne Köln: Artistic mentor, lab format at 'theaterszene Europa' (DE)
2015 Squarehead Productions: Outside eye and artistic mentor, 'Come Wander with Me Festival' (IRL)

RELEVANT EDUCATION

Ongoing PhD Programme Theatre, Film and Media Studies, University of Vienna, AT
SUPERVISORS: Birgit Peter, Louis Patrick Leroux

2012 Professional Diploma in Contemporary Dance, CON.dance Vienna, AT
TEACHERS: Akos Hargitay, Bettina Schaefer, Andrea Nagl, Valerie Oberleitner, Sabina Holzer, Mina Yo, Gisela Elisa Heredia, Seo Youn Kim, Chris Steiner

2007-08 BA Circus Programme, Codarts University Rotterdam, NL
TEACHERS: Nikolay Pyasta, Emil Angelov, Juan Liu, Gregor Kiock, Annemieke Wijers, Lee Hayes, Guido Severien, Jan Rok Achard, Birgit Haberkamp, and others
(diploma not obtained)