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An experimental anti-horror live music performance and installation set within a visual meta-narrative by Irina Komissarova
Full Credits
created and developed by Irina Komissarova
in collaboration with Muza de la Luz, Paulius Kilbauskas and Eugenijus Sabaliauskas
technical support: Rui Almeida, Ulf Knutsen
production manager: Sunniva Solberg
photo and video: ksswr, Mohammed Lehry, Oyvind Hansen, Ole W Moe Lund
produced by the Norwegian Theatre Academy
Irina Komissarova's MA in Scenography final production at the Norwegian Theatre Academy
First premiere produced by Norwegian Theatre Academy and presented as part of the §112 Fredrikstad pilot festival in Fredrikstad, Norway
May 31 and June 1, 2024
Critical Reception:
Karoline Skuseth, artist and curator at BIT Teatergarasjen, Norway
“Irina's work is characterized by a strong commitment to feminist values and a desire to subvert traditional power dynamics, as well as a talent for combining disciplines and techniques to create immersive experiences that blur the boundary between the stage and the audience.
Her innovative approach to scenography is marked by a willingness to take risks and adapting to changing circumstances. Through her creative vision and experience as a set designer, Irina skilfully creates atmospheric spaces that appeals to a wide range of senses, inviting the audience to explore and engage with the artwork”.
Gian Maria Tosatti, Italian visual artist
“It was a visionary sink into an existential and political labyrinth, full of echoes from European philosophical and artistic thought.
What impressed me too, from that experience was how simply (and with very poor elements) she was able to overturn the perception of the visitors and taking them into her world”.
Serge von Arx, architect ETH/SIA, artistic director Scenography at the Norwegian Theatre Academy, Norway
“Irina's meticulous inquiry to subvert social power paradigms through scenography culminated in a playful and tactile parallel universe as a specially diverging cohesion. She wove the many imminent questions into a work that re-accentuates scenography coalescing human and spatial factors”.
At the end of May, the project's premiere unfolded in two parts: one set in the forest, the other in the stark emptiness of the Black Box.
On the first day, audiences embarked on a walk into the woods where they encountered a girl in the beast's nest, nestled in the middle of a forest lake.
Each participant received a set of tools to experience the magical forest — special glasses and an electric torch that revealed hidden life around them.
Everyone was free to experience the forest in their own way, guided by a single simple rule — be a respectful guest of the forest.
photo by Oyvind Hansen
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photos by Ole W Moe Lund
On the second day, the same audience entered the empty Black Box. There, they encountered a performer seated in a nest, enveloped by an intricate soundscape and evocative lighting. Each spectator was invited to conjure their own forest within their mind's eye, guided by the unfolding narrative and the eerie atmosphere that permeated the space.
Here, the beast appeared...
photos by Mohammed Lehry
