Everything has a time. Everything has a space. All life has a body. With that in mind, Jon R. Skulberg begins his work, regardless of whether it is an opera, a performance work or a dance piece. As a director, scenographer and choreographer he works with spatial-somatic relationships. Convoi Exceptionnel is special transport and wide cargo. Like the sign found on large highway trucks, the company is a reminder to pay attention to particular weight and content. Convoi Exceptionnel is a transport system for the enigmatic, pain, the anxious and the possibility of hope. Convoi Exceptionnel, founded in 2018, is a Nordic production platform creating existentialist works, focusing on interdisciplinarity within theatre, opera, choreography, and installation. The company is led by artistic director Jon R. Skulberg and creative producer Lene Bang.
AVAILABLE WORKS:
MOVING A MEMORY – premiere July 2021
Moving a memory is a performance and an exhibition created for a gymnasium. Convoi Exceptionnel explores experiences and memories connected to this space with which most of us have a relationship. The smell of lacquered floor, thick rope, and wooden rib walls. Scheduled exercise activating a wide range of emotions. The gymnasium is charged with fear and joy. A place in the past and present. Stage director and set designer Jon R. Skulberg says: ‘You walk into the gymnasium, sense your feet on the floor. The marked floor lines reveal a regime of movement. Now it’s your chance to redefine the hierarchy and explore a new kind of poetry.‘
The Nordic gymnasium is a symbol of a fit body, disciplined and trained to obtain good health. An architectural manifestation of public health. We challenge the space’s authority and give it another language. It’s an invitation to move your memory.
The arc of the work is drawn up Convoi Exceptionnel, visual artist Maiken Bent, choreographer and dancer Wayson Poon, and composer and musician Paul Yip. On stage the dancers are Linette Stamp Christensen and Paul Pui Wo Lee.
Convoi Exceptionnel is a Nordic production platform made by Jon R. Skulberg in 2016. Jon is a Norwegian stage director and set designer living in Copenhagen. Convoi Exceptionnel creates evocative images with bodies, sound, and light as components. Immersive landscapes inducing impressions and demanding impact.
Wayson Poon‘s choreographic practice is rooted in Qi and Taoism. He works from the mantra: “Reality is empty, emptiness is real,” which inspires a clear minimalism in his choreographic language.
Maiken Bent’s sculptures and installations are characterized by the composition of strong colours, craftsmanship and a rough mix of chains, ropes, and soft materials. Her work exists somewhere between Gucci and The Home Depot, creating an interesting play of hierarchies. Longing and remembering cross paths through her transformations of recognizable objects.
Paul Yip’s Japanese and Tibetan inspired soundscapes has stable frequencies and vibrations inducing physical resonance in the bodies of everyone present.