AUTOPLAY

PRESS

“[…]’Every movement, every sound, every image is an objet trouvé from the world wide web’ [Ostruschnjak] declares. But isn’t everything on the internet more-or-less haphazardly thrown together? Exactly. That is what this is all about. […] The three men and one lady on the stage show trace-elements of expressionist dance as well as idiotic selfie poses, gymnastic moves and Tyrolean folk dance. […] But the evening also has its serious sides: One rather nasty passage, for example, features recordings of armed men and women so perfectly edited to fit the music that every arpeggio leads to an almost aesthetic seeming sequence of images. […] The ensemble is great.”

Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, 11 September 2021

PREVIEW TEXT

With its constant supply of images and information, the world wide web is both a blessing and curse. Young Munich-based choreographer Moritz Ostruschnjak has drawn uninhibitedly on the possibilities of the internet for his piece “AUTOPLAY”. Here, the movement vocabulary, music and images are all copied, everything is reproducible. The players are three male dancers and one female dancer, who meticulously and untiringly embody an apparently endless multiplicity of dance moves, gestures, and poses, shown in a strictly frontal mode. Seek and find is the motto of the evening: Freed from their virtual setting, the movement elements produce a funky, sampled reflection of digital life in the 21st century – a sensual click-marathon. Ostruschnjak is a former graffiti artist and break-dancer who has been causing a sensation ever since training in contemporary dance. With “AUTOPLAY” he uncompromisingly yet seductively encapsulates the light and dark sides of the digital age.

(approx. 70 mins)

Watch a video on Vimeo

cast & credits

Choreography: Moritz Ostruschnjak

Choreographic collaborator: Daniela Bendini

Dance: Annamaria Ajmone, David Cahier, Daniel Conant, Antoine Roux-Briffaud

Video: Moritz Stumm

Music mixing & editing: Jonas Friedlich

Dramatic adviser: Armin Kerber

Light design: Andreas Harder

Costume: Daniela Bendini, Renate Ostruschnjak

Audio engineering: Paolo Mariangeli

Production management: Hannah Melder / Touring: Lara Schubert

PR: Simone Lutz

A production of Moritz Ostruschnjak. Supported by the Department of Arts and Culture of the City of Munich and the BLZT, Bavarian State Association for Contemporary Dance with funding from the Bavarian State Ministry for Science and Arts. Realised by a residency of the Theater Freiburg. The artist is supported by Netzwerk Grand Luxe and is a member of Tanztendenz München e.V.

Premiere: 14/11/2019, schwere reiter Munich

Supported by the NATIONAL PERFORMANCE NETZ Guest Performance Fund for Dance with funds provided by the federal government’s office for culture and media, and by the ministries of culture and art of the federal states.