Karin Pauer

ghosts & monsters

Performance Dance

Several dancer’ bodies intertwined — © Eva Engelbert

Halle G / Tanzquartier Wien

Karin Pauer explores the resonances of the planetary catastrophe with haunting sensitivity. In her new large work, five dancers move through a world of contradictions – quiet and restless, decaying and evolving, haunted and alive.

“ghosts & monsters” takes shape between two gestures – naming and perceiving – to encounter both that which disappears and that which emerges. The ghosts of times gone by brush against new monstrous formations: radiation that seeps into the ground, bionic robots that patrol disaster areas, mushrooms with healing powers or toxins, medieval bestiaries, and modern data centers.

To the haunting sounds of Rozi Mákó, the five dancers persistently navigate through these conflicting forces. The theater space becomes a delicate landscape – one that quakes under the pressure of intertwined temporalities. Inspired by Inger Christensen’s 1981 poem “Alphabet” and texts by anthropologist Anna Tsing, Karin Pauer’s choreography proposes an ethic of mindfulness.

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