Motion Bank Workshop No. 2

DANCE & ARCHITECTURE EXTENDED:

Moving into new ways of thinking

20-23 September 2011 at The Frankfurt LAB. This second workshop in the series offered practitioners an opportunity to engage in Motion Bank related research into the use of scores and notation in an interdisciplinary context of dance and architecture. Approached as a laboratory, this workshop was developed and lead by independent choreographer and former Ballet Frankfurt performer Prue Lang and urban planner Michael Steinbusch.
Michael Steinbusch & Prue Lang;Photo: Jessica Schäfer

The aim of the four-day laboratory was to challenge the organisational practices of choreography and architecture through a contrast with the practices of business, particularly of business modelling, to see how one could move into new ways of thinking. This involved a critical reflection on how scores and notations support embodied, spatial and analytical thinking, and help produce the cooperative outcomes that form and influence social interactions.
Participants working. Photo: Jessica Schäfer

Developing a better understanding of the usual ways in which all these practices depict and symbolize reality, and how decisions are made, helped the participants to discover new ways in which joint action and thinking can produce creative structures and outcomes.

This is the second project integrating choreography and architecture Steinbusch & Lang have participated in. The first was a seminar at Palucca Schule Dresden Hochschule für Tanz 2007/2008 (Seminar Report. German with English summary)
Notation experiments. Photo: Jessica Schäfer

Architectural Thinking Tools

The Salon for workshop no. 2 featured Prof. Dr. Gunter Henn, of HENN Architekten based in Munich/ Berlin, talking on the theme of “Architectural Thinking Tools”. The talk was facilitated by Michael Steinbusch who has a long working relationship with Gunter Henn. The 3D object in the image is used by architects to model and explore building ideas -- it was used as a 'score' in the context of this workshop no. 2.  
Michael Steinbusch & Gunter Henn. Photo: Jessica Schäfer

Video Impression: Prue Lang explains some of the notation and score approaches used in the workshop.

Michael Steinbusch has taken his experience into further collaborations with the dance artists of the Michael Douglas Kollectiv. Steinbusch also participated in the Dance Engaging Science Interdisciplinary Research.
Video: Anna Berger

Workshop Documentation Pages:

http://motionbank.org/en/content/workshops

http://motionbank.org/en/event/project-giessen-2011

http://motionbank.org/en/event/motion-bank-workshop-no1

http://motionbank.org/en/event/motion-bank-workshop-no-2

http://motionbank.org/en/event/motion-bank-workshop-no-3

http://motionbank.org/en/event/motion-bank-workshop-no-4

http://motionbank.org/en/event/motion-bank-workshop-no-5

http://motionbank.org/en/event/motion-bank-laboratory

http://motionbank.org/en/event/choreographic-coding-lab-motion-bank-report