HOSTING AUDIENCES AND MONSTERS is an action associated with the performance MONSTRATOR. The act of Othering appears to be common to every culture and it is a mechanism that seems to assure one's own normalcy and affirmation of identity. One can understand more about a certain individual or culture through what they monstrify or exotify. The Freakshow apparatus, that Monstrator denunciates and reflects upon, is the format that best illustrates an Othering action and the human need of creating an entity (Monster) to be displayed and that will embody all the collective fears of a certain culture, in a certain moment of time. By displaying the Monster, man is bringing it to visibility and so part of the fear is erased by that action. At the same time it brings a sense of safety to the fear of identification: it could be me being displayed there, but I'm sitting here on the safe side of the theatrical space. The Monster that assembles all my fears, is the one being displayed over there. It's not I the Monster. Freakshows deal with this triangulation: the Audience, The Host – with the role of the mediator, the function of “monstrare” (etymologically, to show) – and the Monster.
After or before the performance MONSTRATOR the salon: Hosting Audiences and Monsters is held. The aim is to reflect together with the audience upon the reasons and contexts in which monstrification processes operate, how did/will the performance Monstrator approach those subjects and as well to give an insight into the process of making. The aim is to verify how a process of a stage performance and a performance related theme can be transmitted through another media and how this fact can influence the audience's perception towards a stagework.
Dates: 3rd August 2017, Ausufern Festival (post-performance) | Hosts: Marc Philipp Gabriel, Susanne Mayer, Gretchen Blegen, Joshua Rutter and Helena Botto 10th December 2017, Soda Works and Works (pre-performance)