30 appearances out of darkness

Background
You have to experience pieces from maker Arno Schuitemaker yourself. His interdisciplinary work goes off the beaten path and sets just about everything into motion: performers, music, lighting, space. Fragments from his diary are a source of material and transform into embodied reflections on life in his pieces. 30 appearances out of darkness came about in this way too.

Schuitemaker: ‘Maybe it shows that I am getting older, but I feel less and less resistant to life’s vulnerability. When I read Derek Jarman’s book Chroma, these words struck a chord with me: “Is black hopeless? Doesn’t every dark thundercloud have a silver lining? In black lies the possibility of hope.” It made me want to think about the meaning of this paradox, and how it defines us and can benefit us. Why do we sometimes fear what we desire most? It is a question I cannot let go of. I want to be less afraid. Maybe we can find enlightenment by disappearing into darkness, if only to come out on the other side.’

In his pieces, Schuitemaker deliberately takes the time to build something up, to let go of expectations and to let a new reality emerge that affects the unconscious by association. It lets you feel what it is like when your senses fully open. And it is here, in this intimacy, that the universal power of his work lies through which the audience creates its own, personal experience. 

Exclusive compositions

After multiple collaborations, composer Aart Strootman and Arno Schuitemaker will be working together again for 30 appearances out of darkness. Apart from his usually acoustic compositions, Strootman also composes and produces his electronic music exclusively for Schuitemaker’s pieces. He does this using instruments he plays and records himself.

Strootman and Schuitemaker spend time together during the creative process so the final music will optimally integrate with the whole: inventive, layered and with lots of attention to timbre, rhythm and texture. It is the outcome of an intuitive workflow with lots of back and forth exchanges, and neither shies from holding what was made up to the light again and again.

It is essential that not too much is laid down in advance and that their joint search is given as much room as possible. For example, one of the questions they have for 30 appearances out of darkness is: ‘How much lightness does darkness need?’

Lighting design

Schuitemaker has also worked regularly with lighting designer Jean Kalman. This collaboration goes further than just the lighting: as with the previous two pieces, they develop the look of the set together. For this new piece, this consists in essence of a black box, though in this case it is more a ‘blackest’ box. They look for ways they can keep influencing the feeling this space gives off during the performance.

Cast

For the cast, Arno sought out a group of performers who together form a decent cross-section of diverse personalities. Besides Ivan Ugrin and Emilia Saavedra, with whom he has worked for some time already, Ahmed El Gendy, Jim Buskens, Rebecca Collins, Frederik Kaijser and Clotilde Cappalletti will take the stage as well.