30 July: Charlotte Østergaard
TIME: 30 July 11.00-23.00h
START: Sølvtorvet, Copenhagen K
CATEGORY: Designer & researcher
Live-stream every hour on the hour on www.facebook.com/walkingcopenhagen
COMMUNITY WALK
In a time when we are encouraged to keep our distance, this Community Walk is a study of how we create physical presence. How do we meet when familiar rituals such as handshakes and hugs are discouraged? How do we recognize each other’s presence when we individually and collectively perform social control in the fear of an invading hidden enemy?
Over 12 hours, I explore with 12 guests the proximity and distance in communities, where 5 actions and a dress are our common focal points. Every hour I meet a new guest in central Copenhagen, from where we, connected to each other, will walk towards the next guest. Each guest is invited to interpret the 5 actions.
A yellow robe connects me and the walking guest. Through the dress we explore how we can feel each other’s presence. At the same time, we jointly navigate and negotiate how we can keep our distance from each other and from others. Caused by places and people we pass in the city, we reflect physically and verbally on the concept of community. How is the community doing – have our communities changed?
5 Community Walk actions
Action 1 – Welcome ritual: Greeting nearby, but at a distance.
Action 2 – Undressing and Dressing ritual: Hands over the dress to the newly-arrived.
Action 3 – Parting ritual: Farewell to the previous guest.
Action 4 – Testimony ritual: As a testimony of the conversation and/or the physical experience that the walk has elicited, the departing guest reflects on the concept of community.
Action 5 – Walking ritual: Negotiation and navigation through the city.
The route represents places I met/walked with others during the lockdown, where I missed the presence of others, and places where the city spaces were suddenly depopulated. The audience is welcome to meet and follow us from a distance
DOCUMENTATION JULY 30
FILM
11.00 h Sølvtorvet: dancer/choreographer Daniel Jeremiah Persson
12.00 h Østerport Station: dancer Camille Marchadour
13.00 h Amaliehaven: designer/photographer Agnes Saaby Thomsen
14.00 h Israels Plads: Mrs. Elsa Kragh Madsen
15.00 h Nørreport Station: dancer/choreographer Tanya Rydell Montan
16.00 h Gråbrødre Torv: dancer/choreographer Julienne Doko
17.00 h Nikolaj Plads: dance artist Anna Stamp Møller
18.00 h Rådhus Pladsen: dancer/choreographer Paul James Rooney
19.00 h Hovedbanegården: scenographer Aleksandra Lewon
20.00 h Christiansborg: dancer Josefine Ibsen
21.00 h Vor Frelser Kirke: costume designer Jeppe Worning
22.00 h Kongens Nytorv: visual artist/dancer Benjamin Skop
23.00 h Sølvtorvet: final station
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Charlotte Østergaard’s artistic practice is between costume, textile and fashion design. Central in Charlotte’s practice is perceiving that ‘anything’ has potential as material and that material is a facilitator for actions and communication between people.
Charlotte has designed costumes for more than 65 contemporary dance performances for numerous contemporary dance companies and independent choreographers in Denmark and abroad.
Charlotte has received several grants from the Danish Art Foundation. She has an extensive exhibition practice and her designs are represented in the museum collection of Danish Designmuseum and The National Gallery of Denmark. In 2019, her designs were presented at The 14th Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, Innovative Costume of the 21st Century: The Next Generation and at the Biennale for Craft and Design, where her artwork was nominated for the biennale prize.
Charlotte is currently an artistic researcher in theatre as a PhD fellow at Malmö Theater Academy, Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts at Lund University, Sweden.
Bottom photo: Frida Gregersen / dancers: Alex Berg, Camille Marchadour, Daniel Jeremiah Persson, Josefine Ibsen