KA-F-KA
Jury Statement (PUF 2016) about KA-F-KA by Mehdi FARAJPOUR:
Honours to Mehdi Farajpour for the performance KA-F-KA produced by the Oriantheatre Dance Company from Paris. KA-F-KA of Mehdi Farajpour cannot fit into our awards (Cloud, Drop or Wind) as this performance is simply everything – and is thus outside of the competition. With seeing this performance for the first time it becomes clear why the soul has the need to return to the body, which is this case more honest than words. This is – art.
Premier / Première: 2016 – Duration / Durée: 55 min – Genre: Interdisciplinary choreographic performance – Concept, Direction, Choreography and performance / Conception, mise en scène, Chorégraphie & interprétation: Mehdi FARAJPOUR – Motion graphics specialist: Stéphane Bordonaro (based on the original concepts and precise scores of Mehdi Farajpour) – Sound / Son: Arnaud Rollat – Video Art: Mehdi Farajpour– Produced by : ORIANTHEATRE Dance Company – Supported by Centre national de la danse (mise à disposition de studio).
CONCEPT :
KA-F-KA is Mehdi Farajpour’s most autobiographic work in terms of aesthetics, movement, rhythm and images. When watching the performance, the first question coming in mind is: What does an exhausted body have to show? Or, how can an overwhelmed body move?
Running backwards around a circle for almost half an hour before starting the performance is just the beginning. A dancer with a dizzying head, muscular contractions, out of breath, and unbalanced by the fatigue is the first image you will see in KA-F-KA.
KA-F-KA by Mehdi Farajpour, inspired by Franz Kafka’s Visual Universe, is a free interpretation of his famous text: Metamorphosis. Much like Farajpour’s other performances, KA-F-KA is built on an interdisciplinary (vs multidisciplinary) structure; intertwining multiple disciplines rather than putting them together just for the sake of it.
The story:
KA-F-KA is the story of everyone and no one. A man, lost in the routine of his life, awakens to discover that he is transformed into another being. He suffers from solitude, hunger, and pain, yet keeps running to fulfil his personal and social obligations.