Michael Laub


Michael Laub is an avant-garde stage director and contemporary dance choreographer. His work has notably been shown at the Venice Biennale of 1984, the Festival d'Avignon of 2005, the Burgtheater in 2011, and several times at ImPulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival and Hebbel am Ufer Berlin. He has often been described as a minimalist and "one of the founding fathers of anti-illusionist theater".

Career

Laub's career in the arts began in the mid-1970s when based in Stockholm, founding and co-directing Maniac Productions with Edmundo Za. Their work was referred to as innovative; mixing Performance art and Video installation. Genevieve van Cauwenberge observed that the performances "are in fact polyvalent and difficult to classify. They make use of everything at once, combining their specific language, stage direction, plastic arts, musical composition body language, Happening and of course the electronic video image."
With the founding of Remote Control Productions in 1981, Michael Laub proceeded to take his work somewhat closer to theater. Influenced by various forms, ranging from soap operas to classic literature and dance, his output as director of Remote Control Productions currently stands at over twenty plays. In what is perhaps something of an oversimplification of his extensive body of work, one can divide the material by three thematic approaches; the musical ; classic literature ; and portrait work. One constant, since Rewind Song in 1989, has been the collaboration between Remote Control Productions and musician Larry Steinbachek, formerly of the band Bronski Beat.
Many theater critics have noted the conventions-challenging nature of Laub's work. When reviewing Daniel and the Dancers one writer commented that "the theatrical illusion has been destroyed, and what is happening on stage is simply a new reality." Deconstructing theater, finding novel ways in which to reconfigure the elements of a performance, is what fascinates and distinguishes this artist. A review pertaining to the same piece in the Danish newspaper Politiken attributes a certain violence to this theatrical approach. "This is masterful comedy," writes Monna Dithmer, "-served by the Laub diva Charlotte Engelkes-and a masterclass in the Laub technique, the aim of which is to smash the whole theatre process into bits and pieces and display them in all their naked glory."
It was only in the mid nineties, and in particular with the success of the play Rough, that Michael Laub/Remote Control Productions garnered international recognition. As a result, the ensuing works became more elaborate in scope and far-reaching in audience. An example of this was Laub's play Total Masala Slammer/Heartbreak No. 5, in which six months of research in India brought his fascination with Bollywood, Kathak dance and music into a synthesis with Goethe and Western contemporary live art forms. The H.C. Andersen Project was another ambitious project that used a multitude of biographical and literary interpretations in exploring Laub's take on the famous Danish subject. The Austrian daily Der Standard lauded the resulting mash-up, stating the play's "masterful blend of condensed fairytales, biographical notes, and exquisitely transfigured personae from Andersen’s universe is achieved through clarity of dramatic structure, the lightness of the 'show' form, the outstanding dancers and performers, and the subtle music of Larry Steinbachek".
Between the large-scale productions of Total Masala Slammer and The H.C. Andersen Project, Laub directed Portraits 360 Sek at Hamburg's Deutsches Schauspielhaus in 2002 which was commissioned by Tom Stromberg. This was an undertaking which would spur his long-standing fascination with the applications of portraiture in theater to evolve. Having experienced success with solo portraits, Laub began, with Portraits 360 Sek to extend the idea to a collective performance, and in time, a serialized concept.
For the Laub portrait of the performance artist Marina Abramović in The Biography Remix, content called for a multi-layered format; "One moment you are watching the young Abramović on video, the next Abramović played by one of her young students, then Abramović in the flesh", but the object remained grounded in a very direct approach. While one critic noted that "above all one remembers authentic emotion, which culminated in the final glimpse of a smile from the artist. It is beautiful, very beautiful; terribly intimate; and perfectly universal." Libération concluded that "The Remix is generally as disturbing as it is moving". A quality one would anticipate, even aspire to, in a performance chronicling the life and work of an artist who has spent decades pushing the boundaries of physical and emotional endurance.
360 Sek and the ensuing Portrait Series projects eschew almost all theatrics and strip the performer's role down to often uncomfortably intimate biographical details. "By linking the unstructured with the well-calculated, the director subtly conveys to the audience some idea of those elements of which theatre is composed: exuberance and effort, yearning and application, happiness and fear. Yet because the individual portraits are so direct, as an exercise in vanity this self-portraiture remains modest. The quietly non-intentional gets the same six short minutes as the noisily exhibitionist, and that is why, in the final resort, the theatre emerges victorious as a powerhouse of the imagination as opposed to a factory of personalities." The focus is on realism and authenticity. This is made all the more evident with Laub often favoring non-professionals for these projects, as their untrained stage personae are all the more vulnerable and raw.
The Portrait Series have proven popular, in part due to the concept's adaptability. From a theoretical point of view, The Portrait Series is an endeavor wherein he tests theater's global vocabulary. The idea being that virtually any entity comprising interesting characters can be formatted by Laub for a Portrait Series show.
He opened 2010 with the highly personal, original composition Death, Dance and some Talk in Berlin, followed by Portrait Series Istanbul, Portrait Series Rotterdam, and commencing work on the Burgporträts at the Burgtheater, Vienna.
After opening the Burgporträts in 2011, Michael Laub's attentions shifted to the emerging arts scene in Cambodia. For the past five years he has embarked on a series of projects exploring traditional and contemporary Cambodian artistic expression. The Portrait Series Battambang began in 2012 in conjunction with Phare Ponleu Selpak, and culminated in the Galaxy Khmer tour collaboration with the rock band , bringing these distinct voices to Europe two years later.
2016 began with the opening of the solo performance Asutorito Endoruwaito in Berlin's Hebbel am Ufer, which was followed by Dance Portraits - Cambodia opening at ImPulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival and the Weltmuseum Wien.
In 2017, following the world premier of Fassbinder, Faust and the Animists at Hebbel am Ufer Berlin, the piece opened the ImPulsTanz Festival in Vienna.
With his latest work Rolling Laub continued the disposition of intertwining film and theater on stage and conceived a play that was entirely composed out of over 200 film excerpts staged in a roughly two-hour piece. Im 2019, it premiered at Hebbel am Ufer Berlin and toured ImPulsTanz Festival in Vienna the same year.
Michael Laub is founder and artistic director of the artist in residency programme The Umbrellas of Phnom Penh . From 2017-18 TUOPP was a unique structure in Phnom Penh that accommodated residencies for international artists and local creatives from different fields of practice including visual artists, video/film makers, dancers, choreographers, sound artists and designers.
In addition to his stage-work, Laub has held several guest professorships, as well as a residency at HfG Karlsruhe in 2011.

Works

Maniac Productions

Maniac Productions, Narren Teater, Stockholm
Enfantillage, Fylkingen Center for Intermedia, Stockholm
Paralysed Infancy in Repetitive Structure, De Appel, Amsterdam

Avant Tehran, De Appel, Amsterdam
Mouse in Repetitive Structure, Avant Tehran Mickery Theatre, Amsterdam
Lily is going to have a baby, Fylkingen Center for Intermedia, Stockholm
Infection/Love Tape I, Video Festival, Fylkingen, Stockholm
Tragico Intervallo, Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf
Tragico Intervallo II, Arteferia Post Avant-Garde Theater Festival, Bologna
Maniac Productions II, Mickery, Amsterdam
I closed the window and I went out for dinner, Folkwang Museum, Essen/Galerie Neu, Aachen
Hotel Life, Museumzicht Hotel, Amsterdam
Untitled Video Performance, International Performance Festival, Beursschouwburg, Brussels
Dinner Somewhere and then Back to my room RTBF Television, Kolnischer Kunstverein, Cologne/Theatre Populaire de Wallonie, Lieg
Chap Tapes I, Internationaal Cultureel Centrum, Antwerp
Chap Tapes II, Mickery, Amsterdam

Remote Control Productions

Snapping, Computing and Performing
Kulturhuset, Stockholm
White Out
Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Return of Sensation
XXXII Biennale di Venezia
Kulturhuset, Stockholm
International Theatre Festival, Copenhagen, June 1985
Pressure
Kulturhuset, Stockholm
Rewind Song
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, February
6th Bergen International Theatre Festival, Norway
Fast Forward/ Bad Air und so...
Dansens Hus, Stockholm, February
Theater am Turm, Frankfurt, February
Bergen International Theatre, April
Touch Time Festival, Mickery, Amsterdam, May
Kaaitheater, Brussels, June
Wiener Festwochen, Vienna, June
Jack's Travelogue/La Prison des Femmes
Black Box Theatre, Oslo, May
Teatro Central, Seville Expo '92, June
Dansens Hus, Stockholm, August
Theater am Turm, Frankfurt, October
Kaaitheater/Theatre 140, Brussels, November
Rough
Kulturhuset, Stockholm, January
Teatergarasjen, Bergen, January
Springdance, Utrecht, April
Theater am Turm, Frankfurt, April
Szene, Salzburg, July
Internationales Sommer Theater Festival, Hamburg, July
Theatre 140/ Charleroi Danse, Brussels, November
Nordisk Scenekunst Festival, Arhus, April
Europaisches Festival Schlossfestspiele, Schwerin, June
Ludwigsburg Schlossfestspiele, July
:de:Hebbel Theater|Hebbel Theater, Berlin, August
Daniel and the Dancers
Frascati, Amsterdam, October, 1994
Monty, Antwerpen, January, 1995
Lantaren, Rotterdam, January, 1995
Schouwburg, Tilburg, January, 1995
Dansens Hus, Stockholm, February, 1995
Theater am Turm, Frankfurt, February, 1996
:de:Hebbel Theater|Hebbel Theater, Berlin, March 1996
Kanon Hallen, Copenhagen, March 1996
Solo with Charlotte Engelkes
Spielart, Munich, October 1995
Theater am Turm, Frankfurt, February 1996
:de:Hebbel Theater|Hebbel Theater, Berlin, May 1996
Szene, Salzburg, July 1996
Monty, Antwerp, October 1996
Schouwburg, Tilburg, October 1996
Kulturhuset Arhus, November 1996
Planet Lulu
Kulturhus Arhus, March 1997
Springdance, Utrecht, April 1997
Theater am Turm, Frankfurt, May 1997
:de:Hebbel Theater|Hebbel Theater, Berlin, May 1997
Szene, Salzburg, July 1997
Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Zurich, September 1997
Kampnagel, Hamburg, September 1997
Grand Theater, Groningen, September 1997
De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam, October 1997
Schouwburg, Tilburg, October 1997
Pusterviksteatern, Gotheborg, October 1998
Dansens Hus, Stockholm, October 1998
Frankula
Grand Theatre, Groningen, August 1998
TANZtheaterInternational, Hanover, September 1998
Frascati, Amsterdam, September 1998
Schouwburg, Tilburg, February 1999
:de:Hebbel Theater|Hebbel Theater, February/March 1999
Szene, Salzburg, July 1999
Out of Sorts
De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam, April 1999
Grand Theatre, Groningen, April 1999
Szene, Salzburg, July 1999
Expo, Hanover, September 1999
Schouwburg, Tilburg, October 1999
Mousonturm, Frankfurt, February 2000
Pigg in Hell
Tanz im August, Berlin, 2000
Podewil, Berlin, 2001
Mousonturm, Frankfurt, 2001
off limits Festival, Dortmund, 2001
Rotterdamse Schouwburg, 2001
euro-scene, Leipzig, 2001
Tramway, Glasgow, 2002
Impulstanz, Vienna, 2002
Tanzwerkstatt, Munich, 2002
Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Zurich, 2002
Four Days in Motion, 6th International Theater Festival, Prague, 2002
cutting edge, Staatstheater Darmstadt, 2003
Total Masala Slammer/Heartbreak No. 5
Tanz im August, Hebbel-Theater, Berlin, 2001
Archa Theater, Prague, 2001
Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Zurich, 2001
Rotterdamse Schouwburg, 2001
Szene, Salzburg, 2002
Impulstanz, Vienna, 2002
Melbourne Festival, 2002
Portraits 360 Sek
:de:Deutsches Schauspielhaus|Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg, 2002
The H.C. Andersen Project- Tales and Costumes
Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Zurich, 2003
:de:Hebbel Theater|Hebbel Theater, Berlin, 2003
Rotterdamse Schouwburg, 2003
Exodus Festival, Cankargev Dom, Ljubljana, 2004
Dance, Munich, 2004
Mousonturm, Frankfurt, 2005
Rencontre Choreographique de Seine St. Denis, 2005
The Biography Remix with Marina Abramović
Romaeuropa, Rome, 2004
Festival d'Avignon, 2005
Alone
Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Zurich
Portrait Series: Alone/Gregoire
:de:Deutsches Schauspielhaus|Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg, 2004
De Internationale Keuze van de Rotterdamse Schouwburg, Rotterdam, 2004
Tanz im August, Internationales Tanzfest Berlin, 2005
Tanzquartier, Vienna, 2005
Mousonturm, Frankfurt, 2006
Rencontre Choreographique de Seine St. Denis, 2006
Festival d'Otono, Madrid, 2007
Sommer Szene, Salzburg, 8–9 July 2009
Portrait Series Berlin. Professional and Non-Professional Dancers/Marching Series
Tanz im August, Internationales Tanzfest Berlin, 2007
Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Zurich, 2007
Rotterdamse Schouwburg, 2007
Bruce and More
Heli Meklin & Michael Laub
Moving in November Festival, Kiasma Museum, Helsinki, November
Death, Dance and Some Talk
Sophiensaele, Berlin, 23–27 February
*
Portrait Series Istanbul: Aspiring Actresses, and Actresses.
Garajistanbul, 28–30 April, 6 –8 May
Kulturhauptstadt Europas RUHR.Favoriten, Essen, 26–28 November
*
Portrait Series Rotterdam
Lantern/Venster, 15–19 September
Portrait Series/Burgportäts
Burgtheater, Vienna
Portrait Series Battambang
Phare Ponleu Selpak, Battambang, Cambodia.
Galaxy Khmer / Portrait Series Battambang
16-18 January HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin
23-24 January
BIT Teatergarasjen, Bergen
Asturito Endoruwaito
HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin
ImPulsTanz Festival Vienna
Weltmuseum Wien
Fassbinder, Faust and the Animists
HAU Hebbel am Ufer Berlin
ImPulsTanz Festival Vienna
Rolling
HAU Hebbel am Ufer Berlin
ImPulsTanz Festival Vienna