Ayla Suveren
3–9 Hockley
Nottingham NG1 1FH
T +44 (0)7808 156920
E info@gobsquad.com
W gobsquad.com
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SIZE OF COMPANY
5–10 on the road
SCALE OF VENUE
Small-, middle- and large-scale
PERMANENT STAFF
The Collective
Sarah Thom, Simon Will, Sean Patten, Johanna Freiburg, Berit Stumpf, Bastian Trost
Producer
Ayla Suveren
Administrator
Eva Hartmann
ARTISTIC POLICY
Gob Squad is a collective that has been working together since1994. Characterised by a desire to place the beautiful in the mundane, their performances often site homemade magic and spectacle next to the banality of everyday life. Quoting a dizzying range of cultural sources, their work playfully looks at the construction of contemporary identity with humour that entertains and provokes. Rather than passively consuming, Gob Squad audiences often take active roles that create special relationships to the artworks.
REVIEW EXTRACTS
‘Kitchen sets itself at an ironic, reflective distance from the pathos of the 60s yet at the same time is a very accurate reconstruction of Warhol’s Work.’ Der Standard, Vienna ()
‘Gob Squad engage us in masterful dance between the historical and the contemporary… thoroughly entertaining, full of irony and intelligence.’ Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin ()
‘Enigmatic, almost hypnotic… the charismatic actors make the show’s well-worn themes seem as fresh as newly changed linen.’ The Sunday Times ()
CURRENT PRODUCTIONS
A series of film deaths are meticulously restaged across the city of Berlin. The Wild West is transferred to the central station, and the Starship Enterprise is played by a bargain-basement shop. The intertwined sequences and their doppelgängers weave simultaneously towards their inevitably tragic ends, leaving a trail of pretend corpses amidst the urban life continuing around them. (20 mins, two-screen film.)
In a very wide screen film, as bold and ambitious as its title, Gob Squad take a city square and all the people passing through it as a microcosm for the entire world. (90 mins, no interval, 4 performers, 10 on the road.)
A new live film with bad coffee, nervous breakdowns, wild parties and modern hairstyles. It’s 1965 and everything is just about to happen. Pop, subculture, superstars, feminism, drugs, bright lights, and sex are about to rock the world like never before. (100 mins approx, no interval, 4 on stage, 7 on the road.)
Two men, two women, one hotel. Each of them is alone with only a video camera and a phone to keep them company. The audience watch them spend a sleepless night via live video. (300 mins approx, 4 on stage, 8 on the road.)
: War on Anonymity. Choice of weapon: video camera. Combat zone: city streets. One video tape, no cuts, no edits. Result: a breathtaking Hollywood kiss with a stranger. (60 mins, no interval, 4 on stage, 5 on the road.)
With a gorilla costume and a voice changer, Gob Squad gives you the opportunity to become totally anonymous. Participants are invited to step into the arena – a place of alternate realities. (120 mins, 1 interval, 5 on stage, 8 on the road.)
FUTURE PRODUCTIONS
Inspired by revolutions and uprisings, both real and imagined, historical and contemporary, Gob Squad and their audience ‘storm’ the theatre for a better, brighter tomorrow. Stones are thrown, songs are sung, flags are hoisted and hopes are raised. But what are their demands? Whose side are they on? And what exactly will life be like after the revolution? (100 mins approx, no interval, 5 on stage, 9 on the road.)
WRAP-AROUND
Gob Squad run workshops (three–ten days for six–15 people) for participants from performance, live art, new media, video and visual arts backgrounds. The workshops focus on making collaborative site-based work culminating in presentations. Using a hands-on approach, Gob Squad demystify their working process and share their experiences with the participants, encouraging them to play with the tools and vocabulary that the company uses to produce work. Participants are encouraged to think intuitively, initially favouring visual and sensual responses before interpretation and analysis. Workshops address themes such as: what it means to be present in your work, choosing a site, setting time and space constraints, sharing skills, methods of research, interaction with the public within site-based work, the use of text (both spoken and written) and the use of video and sound as tools in the devising and making process.
The company also offer illustrated lectures. Recent lectures have focused on research methodologies, site-related work, urban intervention, working collaboratively and interactive performance. As with their performances and installations, Gob Squad place high value on the aesthetic elements of their lectures, using film and photographic documentation from past and present work throughout.
RECENT INTERNATIONAL WORK
2009 Austria, Germany (), Singapore, Sweden, Holland, Czech Republic, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Austria, Ireland ()
2006–9 France, USA, Slovenia, Siberia, Norway, Spain, Poland, Hungary, Canada Brazil, Latvia, Portugal, Ireland, Estonia, Canada, Netherlands ()
TOURING AVAILABILITY
Contact the company for details
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